The Hindu Business Line : ISPs hold talks to decide move against entry fee

INTERNET Service Providers (ISPs) are holding a series of meetings to discuss the future course of action against the Department of Telecommunication's decision to impose licence fee and entry fee on Internet services.

The Internet operators have taken a stance that the Government has announced the policy decisions without any consultation with the industry and the telecom regulator.

"Normally when a policy is formulated, it is done after consultation with the industry. This time the Government has not done the due process and has not even asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for its recommendations. Therefore this decision could be termed as illegal since set procedures were not followed," said an official of the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI).

Last week, the DoT had imposed a one-time entry fee of between Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore on ISPs apart from an annual licence fee of 8 per cent of its gross revenue. ISPs were, however, permitted to offer Virtual Private Network (VPN) services. This came as blow to ISPs since they were already offering VPN services for more than five years without paying any entry fee or licence fee. DoT justified its decision saying that the entry fee had to be imposed to level the playing field with long distance operators who paid Rs 100 crore as entry fee and an annual licence fee of 15 per cent. However, the long distance operators are also not too happy with the Government's decision.

They said that ISPs were eating into their profits by offering VPN services and therefore the licence conditions should be similar when it comes to entry fee and the licence fee paid. "The fee imposed on ISPs is too less. DoT should have asked TRAI to give its recommendations on the issue," said a long distance operator.