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To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (56926)	11/8/1998 9:46:00 PM
From: Bindusagar Reddy	Respond to of 61433

India Surrenders Internet Monopoly, Issues Rules for Private Licenses November 9, 1998 Dow Jones Newswires NEW DELHI -- The Indian government surrendered its Internet monopoly Friday and announced rules governing the issue of licenses to private service providers. The rules allow companies registered in India to apply to the government for licenses to operate Internet services. The government will grant separate licenses to applicants for separate government-defined "service areas." Licenses will be valid for a period of 15 years, "unless otherwise terminated. If requested by the licensee, extension may be granted by the Telecom Authority on suitable terms and conditions for a period of five years or more at a time," according to an official press release. The government decided in September 1997 to throw open the Internet to private providers, but implementation has been stalled by bureaucratic problems. License agreements that were to have been signed between the government and prospective private Internet service providers were blocked in February by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which said it hadn't been properly consulted in drawing up license rules. New policy guidelines then had to be developed. The state-owned Internet provider is capable of serving only a limited number of users, and current subscribers complain that its service is overpriced and poor. The release said the license fee will be waived for the first five years, and will be a token one rupee (2.4 cents) a year for the remaining period. The service providers will have to use the gateways of the state-owned Department of Telecommunications, or state-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, but can establish their own gateways after getting "security clearance" from the government, the release said. Internet service providers are free to fix their own tariffs, but the TRAI "may review and fix a tariff at any time during the validity of the license, which shall be binding on the licensee," the release added. "The government reserves the right to review the terms of the agreement based on a policy of further liberalization which would be articulated in the context of a new telecom policy," the release added. It set an implementation time of 18 months from the date of signing the license agreement with the government.