Net surfing to become expensive & Might even hit growth in net usage
“In a move that could lead to costlier internet services, telecom regulator Trai on Thursday recommended that all internet service providers (ISPs) pay 6% of revenues as licence fee, have a uniform foreign holding of 74% like other telecom services and proposed that new entrants be charged an entry fee of Rs 20 lakh for a nationwide licence and Rs 10 lakh for a state licence, against the current flat entry fee of Re 1” reports the Economic Times.
ISP’s that have so far been permitted 100% FDI have also been recommended to reduce their foreign shareholding to 74% in two years’ time.
TRAI has also recommended that all ISPs be permitted to offer internet telephony, against the current policy requiring a special licence to offer the facility.
While recommending a continuation of the existing norm that bars ISPs from terminating internet telephony calls on landlines or mobile within India, meaning ISPs can’t compete with telecom operators, Trai proposed that voice over internet protocol (VoIP) calls made from PCs be allowed to terminate on devices other than landlines and mobiles within the country.
At present, termination on PC-to-PC and PC-to-VoIP phones in India is permitted. Other devices in this case would include certain analogue devices and adapters.
The ISPs expressed dissatisfaction with Trai’s recommendations.
According to Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) founder and director general Amitabh Singhal, the imposition of new levies without increasing the scope of services being provided by ISPs will hurt the sector. “We have been urging for long to remove restrictions on internet telephony to open new opportunities for ISPs and we were hopeful that Trai would address it. This is a growth area and could have fuelled internet penetration,” he told ET.
How might this move affect the growth of net usage?
There is a need to increase broadband (high speed internet) coverage and imposing license fee will not help the cause. TRAI’s recommendations will also adversely affect mass usage of internet as the regulator has kept IPTV out of the reach of ISPs.
Via: Economic Times
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against the current flat entry fee of Re 1????
current entry fee is Re 1?
Would have expected a lot more ISP's to be around at that price