Internet and Broadband Rates to Spike Under New License Scheme

The internet service providers' authority, ISPAI today announced that the rates of broadband and internet may go up based on the new license framework. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the new license framework had proposed a high entry fee and this may become a reason for increasing costs of Internet and Broadband.

A national level Unified License, under the new license agreement will be charged a one-time entry fee of Rs. 15 crore. The amount now is Rs. 30 lakhs, which the companies pay for internet services. Internet Service Providers Association of India told PTI that the Department of Telecommunications has not done anything new, other than issuing a unified license which is charged at Rs. 15 crore. The cost will be heavy and go up in case the internet service providers opt to have a unified license.

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The new license scheme says that DoT is supposed to allow telephonic calls at lower rates to benefit people in rural India who are still backward in terms of education. It was also recommended to allow Internet Service Providers having BWA spectrum to provide voice services over airwaves. BWA spectrum was won by six private players namely Tikona Digital Augere, Reliance Jio Infocom etc.

The DoT internal committee had referred the case to higher authorities regarding collection of extra payment the companies who won the BWA spectrum in 2010. The additional payment amounts to Rs. 1,658 crore. The license issued for the companies for Rs. 1,658 had with it a 4.4 MHz spectrum, but now, Government had issued an order saying that there should be no license issued with Unified License.