'VSNL denied chance to benefit from Net boom'

By Our Staff Reporter

CALCUTTA, MARCH 29. The country's first Internet service provider (ISP) has blamed the Government for restricting its opportunities to catch the boom on the web. Talking to The Hindu, Mr. Amitabha Kumar, director (operations) of VSNL, admitted that the private Internet service providers were growing at a faster pace, especially in South India.

``Unfortunately, we are allowed to operate only in six cities'', he said. In South India, where the market is expanding at a faster pace, the company offers services at Bangalore (35,861) and Chennai (64,133). The other centres in the country include Mumbai (1,37,389), Pune (18,964), New Delhi (65,113) and Calcutta (26,123).

``Our application for a national licence is pending for a year. Its the Government's role which is restricting VSNL's growth''.

May be because its bottled up, VSNL is far from a trend setter in the market and is a mere follower. The public sector giant is now busy retaliating against the latest trend of free Internet services, initiated by Caltiger. The latter began with an ISP licence for Calcutta, grabbed 14,000 subscribers in the city and has now pocketed a national licence. Expansion into 38 cities across the country is scheduled within a month. ``VSNL will announce its plans in due course,'' Mr. Kumar said.

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