ISPs won't be allowed in Net telephony: DoT

an internal committee of the department of telecommunications has recommended that internet service providers should not be allowed to provide internet telephony services. it is in favour of permitting only the licence holders of basic, national long-distance and international long-distance services to operate internet telephony. the government has decided to lift the present ban on internet telephony from april 1, 2002. it has asked the telecom regulatory authority of india to recommend the guidelines for opening up the segment. trai is expected to come out with its suggestion on this issue by the end of this month. internet service providers association of india is in favour of allowing the isps to allow offering internet telephony. the whole purpose of lifting ban on internet telephony will be defeated if the isps are not allowed to provide internet telephony, said amitabh singhal, general secretary of ispai. the committee has observed that the telecom service providers like basic, cellular and long distance service providers, have the universal service obligation or have to contribute towards universal access levies. however, the isps do not have any universal service obligation and do not contribute towards universal access levies, neither they do pay any entry fee or licence fee. in case internet telephony is offered by a service provider who does not have universal service obligation or does not contribute towards universal access levies, then raising the resources for universal access and telecom infrastructure development will be a problem, according to committee headed by deputy director general in-charge of internet services in dot. at present, internet telephony is banned in the country. internet telephony uses the public internet for transmission of voice. therefore, a call using intrenet telephony is cheaper than a call using the conventional circuit based telephony. telephony over the public internet is also cheaper than telephony using internet protocol over a managed network, using the technology referred to as voice over internet protocol. telecom operators are presently allowed to use the voip technology. earlier, government-owned companies bharat sanchar nigam and videsh sanchar nigam were opposed to the opening up of internet telephony. they feared that internet telephony would impact their revenues.

ISPs won't be allowed in Net telephony: DoT

<img src=/photo.cms?msid=779432703 align=left>AN INTERNAL committee of the department of telecommunications has recommended that internet service providers should not be allowed to provide internet telephony services.

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