The Hindu Business Line : DoT permits cell operators to offer Internet services

THE Department of Telecom has allowed mobile operators to provide Internet services, including the lucrative Internet Protocol (IP) based Virtual Private Network (IP-VPN), without any additional fee.

The services until now were being offered by Internet Service Providers such as Sify and also long distance service providers such as BSNL and Bharti Tele-ventures.

The decision to allow mobile operators to offer VPN services will mean additional revenues for cellular companies.

The total VPN market in the country is estimated to be over Rs 1,000 crore and with the BPO, e-commerce and e-banking segments picking up pace, the VPN market is expected to zoom even more.

VPN services are used to network large corporate houses, retail chains and offices in remote locations through leased line optic fibre cables. The move comes as yet another blow for ISPs, which have been offering this service for the last five years.

However, DoT recently imposed a licence fee and an entry fee on ISPs wanting to offer VPN services, which prompted a number of Internet operators to stop offering the service.

Apart from VPN services, mobile operators will also be allowed to offer other Internet based data services.

At the moment, cellular operators are providing Internet services limited to surfing and e-mailing.

DoT has now allowed mobile operators to lease out capacity from national long distance (NLD) operators for offering all types of Internet services.

DoT had earlier brought down the entry fee for NLD licence drastically to Rs 2.5 crore, which also gives the cellular operators the option to build their own network.

Already companies such as Hutch and Idea Cellular have expressed their interest in taking the NLD licence.

The Government has also notified the permission to offer Internet telephony by cellular operators as was announced by the Communications and IT Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, in November 2005.

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