Govt to review Internet policy

Concerned over the loss of revenue through grey market operations in IP telephony services and to clear the ambiguity regarding the new internet based services like IPTV, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has issued a consultation paper to review the policy of Internet services in the country.

"The government is contemplating reviewing the policy of internet services with a view to address large number of ISP licenses, grey market operations, level playing field vis-à-vis other licensed telecom service providers, for an effective, regulated and forward looking ISP license," a TRAI release said.

The department of telecom sent a reference letter to Trai seeking recommendations on internet services.

The consultation paper discusses the present scenario, the regulatory environment, and the emerging trends while emphasising the need to revamp internet services in India.

Internet services in India were launched in 1995 and opened to private players in 1998. Though 389 internet service providers (ISPs) licenses are issued, the top 20 ISPs provide internet services to 98 per cent subscribers.

Internet telephony licenses are given to 128 ISPs, however, only 32 of them are presently providing internet telephony.

Thus, the present growth is not likely to achieve the target of 18 million internet subscribers and 9 million broadband connections by 2007, the release added.

"New services like IPTV and IP telephony are becoming very popular. The demand of various content services is likely to increase in the coming years. The scope of the services under the existing ISP license conditions are unclear. There is a need to remove these ambiguities to smoothen the roll out of these services while ensuring a level playing field with other licensed telecom operators," Trai said.