The Indian Prime Minister’s Office has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to take undertakings from defaulting private telecom firms who want to apply for ISP licenses. The firms have to submit undertakings to say they will bide with the new telecom policy, which is expected to come out in three months. DoT will issue conditional licenses to defaulters applying for licenses. Reliance Communications and Punjab Communications are two such firms. They have applied for national ISP licenses. Cellular operators have asked DoT to allow them to use their existing infrastructure for Internet services. Meanwhile, DoT has granted the third national ISP license to Sukarta Finance. There will be approximately 25-30 ISPs who will operate nationally, 100 ISPs at the state level and 1,500 in individual cities.
