ISPAI urges TRAI to make internet affordable

New Delhi, Sep 1 (UNI) There is a need for the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to expedite the removal of regulatory bottlenecks and permit the bandwitdth resale in order to make internet accessible at cheaper rates.

''TRAI should expeditiously review the Domestic Leased Circuit (DLC) and International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) tariff ceilings and should consider permitting bandwidth resale,'' Internet Service Provider Association of India (ISPAI) Secretary Deepak Maheshwari told reporters at 'Internet Governance' seminar organised by FICCI here.

While DLC is required to connect between different internet terminals of the same/different internet service provider(s) (ISPs), IPLC is used to connect with other ISPs abroad.

The authority should also rationalise spectrum pricing to allow regional service providers to enter in and increase the options for the internet users thereby making it accessible, he added.

TRAI, through its Telecom Tariff Orders (TTO), had brought down the cost of a Delhi-Mumbai DLC to Rs 25,000 on May 1, 2005, from Rs 14-28 lakh that were charged in the late 90's.

The telecom authority's initiative has benefited the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, but to augment its growth much is still needed to be done, Mr Maheshwari said.

On IPCL, TRAI undertook tariff review for the first time in 2004.

It was to come into effect from April 1, 2005, but is not yet operational. This needs to be corrected, he added.

In India, at present, there are 50 million internet users, fourth largest in the world, but the number of internet subscribers is to the tune of just 7.5 million. Hence, there is an in-built opportunity for ICTs to increase their base.

Also, majority (70 per cent) of the country's population lives in rural areas, but the reach of internet is to a meagre section of less than 13 per cent.

''This figure can be raised by making the internet multilingual,'' Indiatimes Director (Corporate Strategy) Vinay Kumar said adding, ''regional content providers, therefore had a big role to play.'' He also asked the Central Governement to engineer such poilicies which will make the internet more secured against spam, cyber crime, and protect user's privacy and data.

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