Internet in India
By Atul Chitnis
The Internet finally comes to India in August 1995. So what's cooking? What's available? Where? And how much does it cost? Who are the players? Get answers to all these questions in this exclusive article.
Note : Clicking on the little yellow box
to the left of each topic returns you to this Index.
These days, you cannot pick up a magazine or watch a program on TV without coming across at least a casual mention about the Internet. So much hype and so much mystique surrounds "The Net" that people have compared it to the mythical Loch Ness monster - everyone has heard about it, but few have seen it.
This is especially true for people in India.
Historically, the Internet has been a bone of contention in this country, where any form of communication is deemed as suspect - largely because of flawed policies by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which actually prohibits access to the Internet!
But all this is about to change.
In August '95, the Internet finally becomes reality for the masses, and many things are going to change because of that.
Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, the sole providers for international communications in India, are about to go public with their much talked about Internet Gateways. In fact, even as I write this, the VSNL is in its final testing stages.
But before I tell you all about that, let me give you a bit of history about the Internet - because without this background, it will be very difficult to understand the importance of its arrival in India.
The Internet was born in 1969, when a paranoid American military had nightmares about their primary communication centers being bombed out by "The Evil Empire" - the Russians. The fact that the Russians were equally worried about having their communications disrupted is a point often down played by NetHistorians.
To prevent such an occurrence, the ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) set up four communication hosts, linking them in a fashion which would ensure that even if one would get bombed out, communications would route around the affected area and stay alive.
This network (called ARPAnet) quickly grew. The primary service on ARPAnet was Electronic Mail - in fact, it was the first time that E-Mail actually came into use.
In the early 70's, paranoia took a backseat, and ARPA allowed various universities to link into the net. Probably one of the best decisions ever taken. It is a well established fact that giving something into the hands of a younger generation accelerates progress tremendously.
This as true for ARPAnet, too. In a very short time, students began linking their own campus networks into ARPAnet, using a well defined protocol called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Program/Internet Protocol), thereby linking the various networks together in an almost seamless manner. This joining of networks was called inter-networking, and soon the entire setup was called the Internet.
In 1973, ARPAnet allowed international bodies to link to the net, and after that, there was no looking back. ARPAnet (now called the Internet) left the hands of the military and moved into the civilian domain. In 1977, ARPAnet as an entity ceased to exist, with the backbone of the Internet being handed over to the National Science Foundation (NSF). This backbone became the NSFnet.
From 4 hosts in 1969 to over 5 MILLION hosts in 1995, the Internet has come a long way. More than 30,000 networks now form the Internet, and a new one joins the Internet every 30 minutes. Growth outside the USA has now overtaken that in the USA - more than 50% of the Internet is now outside the USA (something the USA government is not too pleased about).
The importance of the Internet hit people squarely in the face when Bill Clinton and Al Gore got voted to power in the USA. These two savvy politicians realised early on that the Internet held enormous drawing power, and made easy access to the net a part of the political manifest.
With their successful election, they made history, by becoming the first political body to come to power riding on a point of technology. Al Gore's call to "Commercialise Internet" became a rallying point for businesses to support Bill & Al's cause. Even the White House is now on the Internet.
In fact, this phenomenon may also be the cause for their downfall. Recent moves by the American government to impose "laws" on a society that now spans the planet and recognises no government as its ruler could prove to be the Clinton government's undoing.
While many people in India have rued the fact that the Internet is not accessible in India, they in fact are wrong. The Internet has been around for a long time in India, in the form of the Education and Research Network (ERnet).
ERnet was formed primarily to link the premier educational and research institutions in India. The IITs, IIMs, The National Center for Software Technology (NCST) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) were linked together in 1988, and, through a link to UUnet in in the USA, were connected live onto the Internet.
ERnet was funded by the United Nations Development Projects (UNDP) which continued to fund the project until late 1994. Faced with a withdrawal of funds, the Government of India stepped in to partially subsidise ERnet.
ERnet is a surprising setup. Unlike many projects in our country, ERnet is highly efficient - a prime example of what can happen if people are left to their own devices. The network is so stable that downtime is considered a national calamity, and is treated as such. And amazing way of working, especially considering the "Chalta Hai" attitude openly shown by the DoT.
In a country where we have 100 DoT employees for every phone line installed, ERnet is run a by a handful of people. Each ERnet site has a highly qualified net administration team, and because of the flawless operations, that's all it seems to take to keep ERnet running!
Through ERnet, thousands of students in the various institutions and as many researchers in various organisations have full access to the Internet, and in fact deem it as a natural way of the world.
Naturally, many people would like to get ERnet accounts, but ERnet has been bound and shackled by archaic regulations laid down by the DoT. Unless you are an educational or research organisation, you cannot have ERnet accounts. Period.
This is a bit of a dilemma for the management of ERnet. With no more funds coming in from the UNDP, and only partial subsidisation by the government, ERnet could very easily pay for itself (many times over, in fact) by giving out commercial accounts.
Sadly, the shortsighted DoT continues to prohibit that.
Not so much because of the principles involved (Education and Research only), but because of a terrible "Dog in the Manger" attitude openly displayed by the DoT. They are unable to provide the Internet access to the masses that are clamouring for it - and they won't allow ERnet to give it to them, either.
In October 1994, rumours began spreading that the VSNL was proposing to set up Internet gateways throughout India. Rumour took more solid shape when the VSNL floated tenders for setting up such gateways. These tenders were opened on November 4th 1994, and, though no finalists were named, December 1994 saw the first version of the proposed access tariffs. (I, in fact, saw these prices under an oath of secrecy in early December).
But the VSNL was also getting worried. With accelerating moves towards telecom privatisation, it became clear that the huge market that existed out there for Internet connections was being threatened by private operators. Sure, the DoT was doing its best to hold them at bay, but the DoT no longer represented such an awe-inspiring force.
Worse still, the situation abroad went into overdrive. Massive information services such as Compuserve, America Online and Prodigy opened up to the Internet - and millions of their users now could surf around the net like there was no tomorrow. In India, too, things began changing rapidly. Anyone with a Compuserve account (and there are a huge number of them now) could get onto the Internet through Compuserve, almost for free (if one looks at tariffs prevailing in India).
Then Compuserve decided to up the stakes even further, by giving full IP connections (live links into the Internet) allowing people to use Compuserve as a carrier. A live link into the Internet meant that people could now surf the World Wide Web for a very low cost - even from India. The charges are just $2.50 per hour (plus telecommunication charges).
Now REALLY worried, the VSNL decided to confuse the market, and "leaked" the tariff list to various publications (myself included). There were very few changes to the original pricing structure, but one point mad everyone sit up.
VSNL was proposing a flat Rs.500 annual charge for students - no volume charges, no time limits.
This pricing, coupled with the Rs.5,000 per annum charge for professionals, seemed too good to be true. Many people now thought twice before going in for the services of a vendor abroad, waiting to see if VSNL would indeed come through.
Next came an announcement that the cheapest connectivity option (2400 bps dialup only) had been dropped, and that student accounts had been pushed into "Phase 2". The final tariff table was split into two sections - dialup access (ranging from Rs.5,000 to Rs.15,000) and leased line access (ranging from Rs.60,000 to Rs.2,500,000).
What really puzzled everyone was how the VSNL was planning to control the usage of these accounts. They had clearly stated that there would be no volume charges or time charges - the subscription amount was a flat sum, with nothing else payable.
It was entirely possible for someone to dial into a VSNL host and then stay connected for the rest of the day (or year). How was the VSNL going to handle this? How many phone liens were they planning to provide? In Bangalore alone, where the demand for Internet accounts is at the highest (as admitted by VSNL personnel), even a hundred dial-in phone lines would be insufficient!
When asked about this, VSNL stayed mum, and said they would "cross that bridge when they came to it".
In June 1995, Kishore Bhargava and I were preparing for a major seminar tour, to be held in the month of July. These seminars were about the Internet, and the primary objective was to prepare people for what was coming.
Naturally, we approached VSNL to check with them on what was happening, and were told that they were planning to release the gateways on the 15th of July (our seminars were starting on the 14th of July). Amazed, we asked them if they would be willing to talk to our seminar participants about this. Surprisingly, they agreed.
In a briefing on the 13th of July, VSNL finally laid open their plans, and in an almost 2 hour discussion with the General Manager of VSNL, Bangalore, we saw the final shape of what the VSNL Internet gateways would be (which were now to be launched on the 15th of August).
We were in for a shock later in the day, when we received a phone call from VSNL telling us that they would not be participating in the seminars after all, stating some implausible reason.
We later learned that our prediction of "an avalanche of technical questions" had scared them off, but in true VSNL/DoT style, they blamed it on us (by the time we approached the VSNL people about speaking at our seminars, the seminars were already fully booked, yet the VSNL said that we "used their name" to draw in participants).
But by then it was too late. We now had all the information about their plans, and even though we were asked (told!) not to talk about them, we naturally did. No denials could be issued by the VSNL, because they themselves had given us official, signed documents detailing their plan of action.
To begin with let's have a look at the tariffs proposed by the VSNL.
Dialup Leased Line Leased Line Leased Line Leased Line Connection Speed --> 9600 bps 2400 bps 9600 bps 64 kbps 128 kbps Professional 5,000 n/a n/a n/a n/a Non-Commercial 15,000 60,000 240,000 600,000 1,000,000 S/W Export, 100% EOU 20,000 120,000 480,000 1,200,000 2,000,000 Commercial 25,000 150,000 600,000 1,500,000 2,500,000 Internet/E-Mail Provider n/a n/a 720,000 1,800,000 3,000,000 (All rates shown in Indian Rupees ($1=Rs.31 approx))
The immediate question that arose was what the various classifications meant. VSNL could give us no clue on what these classifications stood for, so here is our interpretation:
1. Professionals:
Single individuals (not companies). For example, a consultant would be eligible to such an account.
2. Non-Commercial:
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Social Service organisations. For example, an organisation such as UNICEF would be considered an non-commercial organisation.
3. Software Export and 100% EOU:
In line with the government's heavy subsidisation of foreign exchange earning setups, such accounts would be given to units functioning in export processing zones and units whose entire turnover was in foreign exchange.
4. Commercial:
A company that does not fall under (2) or (3) and who wishes to avail of services, allowing their employees to access the Internet, would be deemed as a commercial setup. For example, if I run a company and take an account, allowing my employees to access the Internet, my company would qualify for such an account.
5. E-Mail/Internet Service Providers:
Pretty self-explanatory. A Company that offers E-Mail services or permits people to access the Internet via their services for a charge would fall under this classification.
The charges mentioned are on an annual basis. No other charges are applicable, but for dialup connections, a major caveat emerged.
In order to prevent people from simply connecting and staying connected, an upper limit of 250 hours per year would be allotted to dial-up subscribers. This effectively means that, on an average, a subscriber can use his account for upto 45 minutes a day.
Once a subscriber finishes his quota of 250 hours, the account would be suspended until renewed the following year.
This is a rather interesting concept.
It is entirely conceivable to use up one's entire annual quota of 250 hours in 11 days. We asked the VSNL if there was any provision for "upgrade/renewal charges", by which a subscriber could renew his quota for another 250 hours.
The answer was "no". Once the account's quota was used up, no further access would be permitted until the year completed.
Now if you had begun using Internet email heavily, corresponding with people all over the planet, and if you exhausted your 250 hour quota, you will not be able to pick up your email until the next year!
Another limitation is that of 500 KB disk space on the VSNL host. This is not really critical since you can easily FTP a file down to the host and then transfer it to your machine, after which you delete the file from the VSNL host.
This is a critical issue if you plan to receive files larger than 500 KB.
Leased line subscriptions are not subject to the 250 hour time limit. But all is not rosy here, too.
The leased line charges are fees payable towards the usage of the account. They do not cover the cost of the leased line (or the maintenance of the same). Leased lines would have to be procured from the DoT/MTNL at an additional cost.
VSNL proposes to give a number of standard Internet services through its gateways. They include:
- Electronic Mail
- Telnet
- FTP
- Gopher
- Usenet News
- WAIS
- World Wide Web Access
Connectivity will be through shell accounts (where you basically land up at the Unix $ prompt and are left to fend for yourself - a daunting proposition for non-Unix literates) and through something called "Host Dialup Access".
That last bit had me and Kishore rocking with laughter. You see, we asked VSNL whether they would be giving SLIP (Serial Line IP) accounts. SLIP is a dialup connection which makes your machine a live part of the Internet - very similar to being connected though a direct hardware connection, but via modems. You need SLIP (or its more robust sibling protocol - PPP) if you want to access the world wide web.
When asked about this, the VSNL gentleman (very high up) looked at us very puzzled and asked "Excuse me, but what is SLIP?" !!!!!
Anyway, it now turns out that "Host Dialup Access" is in fact a SLIP connection. Which means that you can use standard Windows TCP/IP utilities (such as Netscape/Mosaic, WinFTP, etc.) to access the Internet - no Unix knowledge required.
Unfortunately, VSNL has goofed yet again in its policies. We have just found out that professionals (i.e. the Rs.5,000/annum subscribers) will not be given SLIP accounts. Therefore, World Wide Web browsing will remain a pipe dream for individuals for some time to come.
There is a work-around, of course. A program called SLIRP is available on the Internet that emulates SLIP from a shell account (i.e. from the $ prompt), allowing you to have a simulated IP link even if the VSNL does not give you a SLIP connection.
In "Phase 1", no World Wide Web servers are provided. This means that the one thing that would give the biggest boost to Indian business (having Web Pages on the WWW advertising their products and services) remains a pipe dream, and people will have to turn to foreign providers to host their Web pages. A tremendous opportunity lost, resulting in a colossal drain on foreign exchange.
One organisation who immediately saw a niche for itself here is the everpresent National Informatics Center (NIC). After having promised cheap Internet access to the masses for years (and having failed to provide it), it immediately announced that "30 Web Servers would be set up by the end of July". Nothing seems to have come off this, but one has gotten used to that by now when dealing with the NIC - lots of talk, and nothing to show for it.
VSNL intends to set up the Internet Gateways from August onwards. Initially, only Bombay and Delhi will be serviced. Next, Madras, Calcutta and Pune will be added.
Amazingly, Bangalore, the Electronic Capital of India, is slotted to receive these services only in late December, if at all in 1995. This has a rather amusing tale behind it.
It appears that Pune was never on the list at all (at least not initially). When the equipment (supplied by Digital) was shipped to Bangalore, VSNL "did not have place to setup the equipment", and hence shunted it to Pune.
Now, it is true that VSNL does not have its own premises in Bangalore (though the rented premises are huge, cavernous and almost unused). So what's the big deal about buying a place outright and setting up shop? "When people hear VSNL, they jack up the prices" is the reply we got.
So what else is new? And since when has that bothered VSNL, who, by their own admission, "make huge profits"? What is going to change by December?
We didn't really expect any answers, and we didn't get any, either.
In addition to direct dialup capabilities, VSNL states that it will provide connectivity to the gateways via INET - the DoT-run X.25 network. Via INET, VSNL proposes to connect 4,300 cities to their gateways. However, this proposal is serverely flawed. For one - INET covers only 89 cities in India today. In fact, there aren't 4300 classified cities - unless you begin to count small towns and villages, too!
Those cities that do not have an INET PAD will be able to connect to the nearest INET PAD via a special, low-tariff long-distance number (099). While this is great in concept, a quick look at INET's operations shows that the 099 services do not work in all cities stated to have this facility.
One category of people immediately in deep trouble is that of the E-Mail providers.
So far, these vendors have thrived by charging on a per-message basis (Rs.2-Rs.8 nationally, Rs.18 internationally). For a person like me, who averages about 30-40 international messages a day, I could end up paying an email provider Rs.250,000 a year.
But by subscribing to VSNL and using the account for e-mail only (which would typically be about 10 minutes a day using automated software), I would have to pay only Rs.5,000, or 2% of what an e-mail vendor would charge me!
Sure, the E-Mail vendors could lower their own costs by doing their entire message trafficking via the VSNL network, but even then it wouldn't be feasible. They are already paying Rs.3,000,000 as license fees to the DoT for the honour of being able to offer email services. In addition to this, even a 9.6 kbps leased line subscription would cost them another Rs.720,000, plus the costs of the leased lines themselves.
It is clear that E-Mail vendors are now facing a shakeout situation, with only a few big ones surviving the fallout of the VSNL gateways.
There are many controversies involved in this whole setup.
One of them is that of 128 kbps links, offered by VSNL.
In their scheme of things, the cities would be connected to VSNL Bombay by 64 kbps lines. So how come VSNL is offering 128 kbps connections?? Even the main backbone to the USA (which is to MCI, by the way) is through a twin set of 64 kbps lines. There isn't a single 128 kbps line in the picture!
Another is the number of dialup lines in each city. VSNL stated that in Bombay, they would have 32 dialup lines, while in other cities they would have 16. That is nowhere near enough to cater to the demand that already exists, not to speak of the demand that will arise as time goes by. VSNL stated that they would increase the number of lines as demand increases, but experience with GPSS and INET (the X.25 networks in India) tells us that this can be only so much talk.
VSNL indirectly drew our attention to the last category, that of Email and Internet providers. It seems that they are basically banking on such setups to increase the reach of their services. Providers would make available their own dialup lines.
The more serious controversy is that of legality.
Amazingly, the DoT has issued statements challenging VSNL's gateways, with dire threats such as "we will see how they will do this". No rationale is visible or offered.
This is pretty surprising, especially with VSNL staff using terms such as "The DoT is the mother and father of VSNL". So where is this heading?
And then the biggest question of them all:
Why are existing and highly functional networks such as ERnet forced to live in constrained means, because they are not allowed to commercialise their services?
Why cannot other telecom giants offer Internet services directly without using VSNL's Internet gateways? They would still be using VSNL's communication gateways, wouldn't they?
In a country that prides itself as being the world's largest democracy, with a constitution deemed fair to all, why this amazingly blatant display of monopoly?
It is absolutely clear that the VSNL is nowhere as equipped to handle the demand for Internet services as is required. In fact, as of writing, VSNL does not even have sufficient IP addresses to give to its nodes (unless their main carrier - MCI - gives them a block of IP addresses).
What is it going to be like? Will the VSNL gateways actually see the light of day? hard to say. Technically, there isn't much to stop them. The equipment has been delivered to them, and they own the international communication gateways.
But even if the VSNL gateways come to life, it is doubtful that they will have a very bright future. With the decline of the DoT's stranglehold over Indian communications, and with a massive surge towards privatisation of basic services (with trunk services not far behind), it is a matter of time before someone legally challenges the right of the VSNL to be India's sole public Internet provider.
Already, precedents are being set. The DoT itself has been challenged, and is no longer un-impeachable. The century-old Telegraph Act is being re-written, and it is unlikely that a state of government sponsored monopoly can continue to exist.
Even the telecom unions now realise this. With the complete and utter failure of the recent telecom strike, it is now apparent that no one really cares anymore what what the DoT, it's henchmen (such as VSNL) and its unions say.
In fact, the arrival of the Internet in India seems to be the beginning of the end of the Telecom Raj in India.
Hip hip hurray.
Copyright © 1995 Atul Chitnis. All Rights Reserved.
Material may not be reproduced or distributed IN ANY FORM without express written permission. Contact the author here for further information or comments.
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