The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has drafted a new policy for internet service providers (ISPs). Under the policy, an annual licence and an entry fee will be charged from ISPs.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has drafted a new policy for internet service providers (ISPs). Under the policy, an annual licence and an entry fee will be charged from ISPs. Only two categories of ISP licences will be retained ?? national level and state level. District-level operators will be required to migrate to either stateor national-level licences by paying an entry fee of Rs 1 million or Rs 2 million respectively, and an annual licence fee comprising 6 per cent of their annual revenue. Existing stateand national-level operators will also have to pay the licence fee.

Further, the foreign direct investment cap for ISPs has been reduced from 100 per cent to 74 per cent. The policy also states that only those companies with a net worth of Rs 1 billion a year will be eligible for offering IPTV services. Regarding satellite services, DoT will be the agency responsible for granting satellite capacity to ISPs under the new policy. Earlier, ISPs could use any approved satellite and its capacity.