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Thomas K. Thomas

Puts on hold applications for Net telephony, ISP licence

New Delhi , July 17

The Department of Telecom has put on hold applications of at least 25 companies wanting to take a licence for Internet Service Providers and Internet telephony on the grounds that the network of these firms were being used for carrying illegal international long distance calls.

The list of companies whose applications have been put on hold includes Sify, DSL Internet and Spectranet. While 18 of these applications are for offering Internet telephony, 10 applications that have been put on hold are for basic ISP licence.

Senior DoT sources said that the vigilance department was investigating cases against these companies for allegedly carrying grey market calls. While the department has admitted that the companies themselves may not be involved in the illegal activities, their network was being used by grey market operators. In some cases an FIR has also been lodged at local police stations for the illegal activity.

Penalty likely

The DoT sources said that the Government was also looking at the option of imposing a penalty for the alleged violation as per the licence conditions. Others in the net include Siti Cable, Exact Communications, Akash Network and Exalt Technologies.

The Internet Service Providers Services Association of India said that the move to single out ISPs was unfair since licences have been issued to large telecom operators whose networks were used for carrying grey market ILD calls.

They said that the DoT had discovered such illegal exchanges and the concerned grey market operator was arrested while the telecom operator was left alone. "It will be unfair to punish the ISPs for an activity that is being carried out by grey market operators. This is a larger issue than Internet telephony," said an ISP.

The DoT sources, however, said that the companies should have a monitoring system in place. Net telephony usage has shot through the roof with operators reporting over a billion minutes. While ISPs were earlier allowed to offer the services for free, recently the Government asked ISPs to take another licence by paying an entry fee.

More Stories on : Regulatory Bodies & Rulings | ISPs | Telecommunications

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