VSNL to expand Internet service coverage

BANGALORE: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is considering VSNL's proposal to broadbase its Internet service coverage area across the country.

"We have recently submitted a proposal to the Telecom Commission for expanding our Internet services to all cities where the company operates its international exit points like earth-stations and gateways," said VSNL chairman-cum-managing director S.K. Gupta. Currently, Internet services from VSNL are restricted to six cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Calcutta, Hyderabad and Pune. However, once DoT gives the nod, VSNL's Internet coverage will expand to 22 cities.

"We have pointed out to the government that such a proposal would be the most cost-effective solution for optimizing VSNL's existing infrastructure besides guaranteeing ideal utilization of national resources," Mr. Gupta said. However, Mr. Gupta does not believe that expansion of VSNL's Internet coverage would weaken the commercial interests of DoT. He said, "While there will be a degree of competition as a result, the customer will benefit in the end."

VSNL's prime concern would be maximizing bandwidth capacity, evolving a competitive Internet tariff structure and enhancing the quality of services for retaining its customer base. It may be mentioned that annual business revenues from the Internet services constitute just 5 per cent of VSNL's total earnings while the rest comes from international voice telephony.