Date:03/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/08/03/stories/2005080300080400.htm

Back ISPs want USO funding extended to broadband

Our Bureau

Hyderabad , Aug. 2

THE Internet service providers (ISPs) want the Government to extend the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Funding to broadband. They are also keen to offer both broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services in the domestic market. The USO Fund for just telephony does not make sense, they feel.

The Secretary of Internet Service Providers Association of India, Mr Deepak Maheshwari, said that the country's telecom penetration is still around 10 per cent and if the Government is keen to rapidly expand its reach as planned, it should allow a bigger role for various players including the ISPs.

Mr Maheshwari, who was in Hyderabad recently, said that the Government had planned for about three million broadband connections by end-2005, but according to available data, there are barely 3.96 lakh connections.

This means a more concerted effort would be necessary to expand the market involving more operators. This could be through bandwidth sharing.

The Government is currently in the process of formulating a policy for 2005. Through the new policy, if it allows bandwidth sharing by firming up an appropriate revenue sharing model, even ISPs can offer broadband and thereby help faster penetration. Last mile has always been a problem issue. By sharing the copper lines, this can be addressed.

"There is this long pending anomaly in offering VoIP-based services. It is ironical to note that while a caller from India can make a call to the US and other countries now (since it is legal), an individual living in a remote place in the country cannot make a domestic call. This is a glaring ill-conceived strategy.

"When we can offer services at, say, about Re 1 a minute to anywhere in the country, he is barred from taking this advantage while corporates can actually use VoIP for international calls," he said.