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.