VSNL expands Internet capacity for private ISPs

BANGALORE, August 24: To provide private Internet service providers

(ISPs) with improved and more reliable connectivity, Videsh Sanchar Nigam

Ltd. (VSNL) commissioned 45 Mbps capacity through Fibre Optic Link Around

the Globe (FLAG) cable system. The new capacity will terminate in the US

through Canadian international carrier Teleglobe. The new capacity will

raise VSNL's total bandwidth from India to 165 Mbps.

FLAG is an international consortium which provides high bandwidth

connectivity through undersea optic fibre link. Likewise, VSNL is also a

part of another consortium and is expected to commission new capacities of

up to 10 Gb next year. The company projects requirement of bandwidth for

current year, based on conservative estimates, at around 400 Mbps. Until

privatization of Internet services in India last year, VSNL, the country's

monopoly overseas communications carrier, was the only ISP. It still is

the only gateway service provider and all the ISPs connect to the world of

the Internet through VSNL.

Although the government has allowed private ISPs to set up their own

gateways, because of infrastructure costs and the time it takes security

agencies to grant clearances, VSNL is expected to continue as a major

connectivity provider for some time to come. VSNL said that, over 30 ISPs

have taken connectivity from it and another 20 have approached it for

gaining its gateway access within the next month.

The Rs 7,000 crore VSNL, which has around 2,50,000 customers, expects

its Internet subscriber base to grow four-fold by 2001. As a business

strategy, VSNL is focussing on the Internet and other value added services

for growth in the coming years and has plans to participate in the

nationwide backbone infrastructure for enabling high speed Internet

connections for e-commerce and, eventually, Internet telephony. VSNL's

Internet revenues have grown to around Rs 54 crore in the first quarter of

the current fiscal ending June from around Rs 20 crore in the previous

quarter, a jump of around 163 per cent.