7 more ISPs get approval for international gateway

BANGALORE: The Department Of telecommunications (DoT) has given an

in-principle clearance to seven more Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for

setting up international gateways.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) issued licenses to companies including

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), and Dishnet-DSL subject to 34 conditions.

The ISPs have been asked to give the acceptance letters by February 11.

The companies have been asked to set up the gateway within the service area

of the ISP licence, besides ensuring that it is used only for internet traffic

and not for any unlawful activity. The ISPs can commission the gateway only

after getting the final clearance from the licensor. To guard against any form

of anti-national activity, the ISPs have been asked to put a monitoring

equipment at the gateway location on its own in coordination with Centre for

Development of Telematics (C-DoT).

The licencees are not permitted to set up gateways in security sensitive

areas. Internet traffic of all ISPs in such areas have to be routed through

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd`s (VSNL) gateway. DoT has listed security sensitive

areas as Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, northeastern states, border areas of

Rajasthan, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and coastal areas of Gujarat and Tamil

Nadu.

To ensure national security, the ISPs operating gateways will be asked to

block Internet sites and individual subscribers as identified by the monitoring

agencies, besides making available all billing details of any subscriber on

demand to the government. With this government has issued in principle clearance

to all ISPs who have applied for international gateway license using satellite

technology. The ISPs, however, will have to approach Wireless Planning

Commission (WPC) for Frequency allocation and clearance.

The companies have also been asked to make a contribution within a month, for

setting up a centralized monitoring facility. The final clearance would depend

on WPC clearance, commissioning of monitoring equipment at the gateway location,

payment of contribution for monitoring facility and other mandatory

verifications. As many as 24 companies have applied for setting up international

gateways. These include MTNL, Satyam Infoway and Bharti BT. The government has

given over 200 ISP licences so far.