1179/DoT/ISPAI/08
August 19, 2008
Deputy Director General – DS
Department of Telecommunications
Sanchar Bhavan,
20, Ashoka Road,
New Delhi – 110 001
Sub : Key Issues of ISPs
Dear Sir,
Most government targets for Internet and broadband access remain unmet. With
barely 9.2 million Internet subscribers, the target of 18 million internet subscribers by
end 2007 seems far. With broadband subscribers at 2.46 million the corresponding
target of 9 million seems even further. The health of Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
too has raised serious concerns in government. Of the 350 ISP license holders, less
than 100 ISPs are operational raising questions about the reasons for such poor
performance in internet services while other services, especially mobile that began
about the same time have become so widespread and affordable.
We would like to draw your kind attention on the key issues being faced by ISPs.
Un-restricted Internet Telephony
While it is a fact that the licenses of all the access providers have been amended to
enable them offer unrestricted Internet telephony, may we humbly submit that India
has the distinction of being the only country in the world where unrestricted Internet
telephony is legally permitted but unfortunately, not legally available for most of its
populace as ISPs are not authorized to terminate call from PC based device to
PSTN/GSM/CDMA network.
With TRAI recommending abolition of ADC from April 1, 08 it becomes more
relevant for Government to allow terminations of unrestricted Internet Telephony /
VoIP call to PSTN/GSM/CDMA network with mutually agreeable terms and conditions
amongst the service providers. It will not only provide a cheaper alternative means of
communication to the public but will help in curbing the grey market and increase
competition . It will also be an extra source of revenue for all the services providers
(ISPs/PSTN/GSM/CDMA) as well as for Government in terms of Service Tax , AGR, etc. "
Removal of Category ‘C’ ISP license, which serve smaller communities or areas where
even big players are not ready to roll out their operations, smaller ISPs are catering
and can do even better if government support them. They are one who can help in
bridging the digital divide by providing connectivity to the un-connected people of
India. This condition needs immediate review by the Govt as it is neither helping
government nor industry.
Differential PBG for Operation ISPs
DoT is asking to furnish full PBG from the operational ISPs who wish to migrate from
License ‘C’ to ‘A’ or ‘C’ to ‘B’ instead of asking for balance additional PBG.
We would like to mention that DoT vide its letter no. 820-1/3-LR(Pt-I) dated
19/01/2004 (copy enclosed for your ready reference) amended the clause 13.6 of
schedule ‘C’ Part II of the license agreement as under :
“Licensee who commissions the service shall furnish/extend the performance bank
guarantee of the reduced amount of Rs. 1 crore, Rs. 10 lakhs and Rs. 2 lakhs for each
of the service areas for category A,B, and C respectively”.
Even TRAI in its recommendations on “Review of Internet Services” dated May 10,
2007 para 4.4.1 clearly mentioned that “All Category ‘C’ ISPs who want to migrate to
circle level license will be required to provide additional band guarantee. It is worth
noting that present license provides reduction of bank guarantee for those ISPs who
have commissioned their Internet Services. The performance bank guarantees for
category ‘B’ ISPs who have commissioned the service is just Rs. 10 lakhs. Hence
Category ‘C’ ISPs who has already rolled out services will be required to submit
additional bank guarantee of differential amount only”.
In view of the same we request you to please issue necessary instructions in this
regard and DoT letter no. 820-1/3-LR(Pt-I) dated 19/01/2004 should stand valid.
IPTV Services
IPTV is not a technology per se; rather, it is a service phenomenon that goes beyond
just the delivery of TV channels and includes offerings like interactive TV and even,
personalized channels.
ISPs are geared to offer IPTV, however, Government’s decision to impose Rs. 100 crore
net worth for ISPs who wish to start IPTV services has put most of the ISPs out of the
IPTV bandwagon. Whereas a cable operator can offer IPTV without any extra fee or
obligations. It may lead to a monopolistic situation where in few service providers
dominate the market.
Security Requirements – As per the amended ISP license certain clauses such as
Monitoring of high UDP traffic, complete network diagram of leased line customers and
their details, Hold ISPs responsible for any misuse of network by the users /third party
content are some of the clauses which will have adverse affect on the Service
Providers.
Monitoring Requirements – As per the amended ISP license each International
Gateway location and / or ISP node with a router/switch having an outbound capacity
of 2 mbps or more should be equipped with monitoring centre at the cost of ISPs.
ISPAI is of the view that monitoring and security should be done Centrally.
Government can make necessary arrangements for security and monitoring at
International Gateways for International traffic as well as all NIXI NOC for domestic
traffic. It may be mandatory for the ISPs to route all the traffic originating and
destined for India through NIXI. These two points can very well handle the security
and monitoring issues. ISPs are helping and will always available for any specific
requirements of monitoring/security by the securities agencies time to time.
In case of ISPs using IPLC such ISPs should be responsible for monitoring traffic
whereas in case of ISPs doing private peering with other ISPs onus should be on one of
the ISP (after mutual agreement) about monitoring the traffic and such ISPs should
install the necessary monitoring equipment and inform DoT accordingly. DoT should
announce specifications for monitoring equipment to be installed by such ISPs to
enable to install the same immediately.
ISPAI suggests that let government make a committee comprising of members from
TEC, C-DOT, DoT, and ISPAI which work out the comprehensive security and
monitoring policy which should be pragmatic for the ISPs to implement. We are fully
mindful of the fact that security is of paramount importance. We only wish to assist
the Govt in formulating a pragmatic and follow able policy.
IT Act 2000 – Section 79 of IT Act envisages the responsibility of Carrier. According to
this clause Carrier (service providers) shall be responsible for the content hosted by
third party on any server. We would like to mention here that ISPs are conduit which
provide connectivity to access the world wide web. Once the user is connected to the
web it is not possible for the service providers to restrict them to visit any site, until
and unless the site is banned by the Govt and blocked at the international gateway
level. It is akin to a user make a threatening call over phone to somebody and
security agencies / DoT holding the telephone company responsible for the same.
We therefore, request your good offices that service providers should not be held
responsible for any 3rd party data available on the web.
40 Bit Encryption - We appreciate the requirement of the law-enforcement agencies
for ways and means to capture the information being exchanged on the public
networks. Thus, a fine balance needs to be struck between the citizens’ right to
privacy and the government’s requirement for such infringement.
Now a days most online transaction such as online banking, online booking of Rail/Air
tickets are being done on minimum 128 bit encrypted keys. In some cases it is 256 bits
to ensure safe and secure transaction to the users. However, as per provisions of the
ISP license more than 40 bit encryption services are not permitted till the keys and the
algorithms to decipher the contents are handed over to DoT. In view of the foregoing,
we request you to kindly:
Freely permit usage of encryption upto 128 bit key on the Internet, by suitable
amendment / notification to the license conditions and other such notifications if
issued without any requirement to deposit key pair (as it is impractical) with the
government.
Wireless Related Issues
Spectrum policies favour voice against data and internet and hurt ISPs and data users.
ISPs and UASL operators can’t be treated at par while auctioning the spectrum. Their
scope of services, financial might, and license are entirely different.
A way to ensure differential pricing would be design auctions for spectrum in such a
way as to limit them to peer users. The goal would be to avoid an auction which treats
commercial ISP’s and non-commercial users at par with UASL holders . A specialist
committee can be asked to isolate parts of spectrum of interest to ISP’s and noncommercial users.
ISPs may be allowed to operate in parts of spectrum which is suitable for data
services and mobile data services e.g. 2.5, 3.3, 3.5 GHz bands confirming to these
bands. These bands should only be allocated for data services as they are a logical
extension of the ISP services as 3G spectrum is a logical extension of the
Cellular Telephony business.
BTS Charges – Royalty is charged on each BTS by WPC. For optimize use of scare
spectrum and QoS with in the same city/circle the ISPs need to set up additional BTS.
It is requested that for the first BTS in any city the charges be charged as presently
but for additional BTS’s in the same city/circle the fees be nominal e.g. Rs. 1000/-p.a.
SACFA Clearance – has been streamlined, however, the clearance in SACFA secretariat
is still taking long time. Request for streamlining issuance also online and after waiting
for 3 months, it should be made as a deemed clearance.
Change in charging mechanism - There has been a change in the charging mechanism
for WPC Fee. Earlier the charging was effective from the date of installation. Now it is
from the allocation of frequency. The changes has been made effective from the
retrospective effect (refer letter no. L-14035/21/04-LR/319 dated 21st April 2006)
above 18 months prior to the notification of changes. We request you to reconsider
the decision and remove the claim related to retrospective effect. Had it been know in
advance, ISPs would have collected the amount from the customers. Also as a fair
practice, changing normally should be from the prospective date.
ISPAI is of the opinion that above suggestions if implemented in-toto will go a long way
in spreading the Internet/Broadband in the Country and will help revival of ISP
Industry.
Kind regards,
Yours truly,
For Internet Service Providers Association of India
Rajesh Chharia
President