Internet in India

Indian Internet history ans statusBefore the appearance of VSNL's GIAS, Internet had been in India for many years in the form of ERNET. However, it was not possible for many people to get access to it, as it was meant for only the educational and research communities. This followed the policy laid down by the American Internet manager NSF, at that time. a. Educational Research Network (ERNET) Internet in India was established almost 10 years ago, as ERNET. It was a joint undertaking of the Department of Electronics (DOE) of the Government of India, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which provides technical assistance to developing nations. ERNET is one of the most successful operations that UNDP has funded. It established for India the idea that we can participate in the Internet. Currently ERNET operates many nodes and has a 64 Kbps link to USA via Mumbai. All major nodes of ERNET are connected to each other using 9600 bps leased lines. These lines are being upgraded to 64 Kbps links. Over 200 academic and R&D groups exchange email with each other using ERNET. Over 8000 scientists and technologists have access to ERNET facilities. International access is provided over a 64 Kbps leased line, from NCST, Mumbai, to USA. Plans for ERNET include the creation of a satellite communication system to enable ERNET to reach locations which do not have good data communication links.

b. Gateway Internet Access Service (GIAS) On August 15th 1995, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) -- the Indian international trunk telephone carrier company -- launched the Gateway Internet Access Service (GIAS). Subsequently, 6 nodes were established at Mumbai, Delhi, Madras, Calcutta, Bangalore and Pune. Each GIAS node is connected to Internet via high speed MCI circuits having a bandwidth of approximately 10 Mbps.

India and Internet-

The total number of active Internet users in India is a big mystery (see the top confusions in digital space in India) and the number ranges from 25 million to 50 million; and the latest report by I-cube pegs the number to 71 million users who used Internet in 2009 [report has taken data from September 2008 2009 into account]. Active users, those who use internet at least once a month according the international standards of reckoning, rose from 42 million in September 2008 to 52 million in September 2009 according to the study, registering a year on year growth of 19%.

Few interesting stats: The report claims that the Internet usage has gone up from 9.3 hrs/week to 15.7 hrs/week i.e. a steep 70% rise primarily due to more entertainment content, content delivery etc [details here]. 37% Internet access happens from cybercafes, followed by 30% who access from offices and 23% from home.

Around 4% browse the net via mobile phone (read: Mobile Internet Users in India Only 2 Million are Serious Users [Report])

The Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) was set up in 1998 with a mission to 'Promote Internet for the benefit of all'. ISPAI is the collective voice of the ISP fraternity and by extension the entire Internet community. Over the years ISPAI has helped influence, shape and mould the telecom policies, so that ISPs and entrepreneurs in the business of Internet can setup and grow their services in an environment that is supportive and enabling.

In the last 10 years of it's existence, it has been party to breaking down monopolistic structures in telecom, bringing down barriers to entry for ISPs. It helped shape India from being a bandwidth hungry to a bandwidth surplus country. it was the competitive spirit of the ISP members of ISPAI that, Internet access became so widely and cost effectively available to our countrymen. These very ISPs helped connect India to the rest of the world so effectively that today BPO and Call Centers cannot but make their global presence felt based on IP connectivity. India is today is arguably amongst the top 10 countries of the world in terms of the number of Internet users.

Today ISPAI is the recognised apex body of Indian ISPs worldwide. ISPAI has access to and interacts frequently with international bodies and platforms and is frequently consulted by them on measures for future trends and growth of Internet. It works closely with the Government, the Regulator as well as the major Industry Chambers. It supports exchange of delegations, business visitors from across the globe which provides ISP members a chance to network widely and seek opportunities elsewhere too. It's a platform for the Solution Provider's community such as Hardware and Software manufacturer's and suppliers to gain easy access to their ISP clients, promote their products and services through personal meetings and through events supported or sponsored by ISPAI.

Internet censorship in IndiaInternet censorship in India is selectively practiced by both federal and state governments. While there is no sustained government policy or strategy to block access to Internet content on a large scale, measures for removing content that is obscene or otherwise objectionable, or that endangers public order or national security have become more common in recent years.

Instances of censorship

1999 Website of Dawn, a Pakistani daily newspaper, blocked following Kargil War Immediately after the Kargil War in 1999, the website of the Pakistani daily newspaper Dawn was blocked from access within India by Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, a government-owned telecommunications company which at the time had monopoly control of the international internet gateways in India.Rediff, a media news website, claimed that the ban was instigated by the Indian government, and then published detailed instructions as to how one could bypass the filter and view the site. 2003 Yahoo Groups banned In September 2003, Kynhun, a Yahoo group linked to the "Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council" (an illegal, minor separatist group from Meghalaya), which discussed the case of the Khasi tribe was banned.[12] The Department of Telecommunications asked Indian ISPs to block the group, but difficulties led to all Yahoo! groups being banned for approximately two weeks. 2006 Websites banned In July 2006 the Indian government ordered the blocking of 17 websites, including some hosted on the Geocities, Blogspot and Typepad domains. Initial implementation difficulties led to these domains being blocked entirely. Access to sites on these domains other than those specifically banned was restored by most ISPs after about a week. 2007 Orkut and Indian law enforcement agreement In 2007 Indian law enforcement entered an agreement with the popular social networking site Orkut to track down what it deems defamatory content which, in their example, includes content critical of Bal Thackeray.[18] 2007 Rediff drops bulletin boards on Glasgow International Airport attack One of the leading Indian websites, Rediff, dropped bulletin boards on all news items relating to the 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack and other stories on terrorism after hostile messages

were posted after news surfaced of the terrorists being Indian Muslims.[when?] The move was said to be self-censorship, based on guidelines from the government. 2008 IRC Undernet banned IRC Undernet (www.undernet.org) was banned without any media coverage in 2008.[19][unreliable source?] However the ban was lifted 2011 Websites banned In March 2011 the government banned several websites, Typepad, Mobango, Clickatell, without warning. On 21 July 2011, all file hosting websites were blocked by ISPs to prevent piracy of the film Singham, causing anger among Internet users.This ban was later lifted. On 24 December 2011, Reliance Communications, a widely used ISP, again blocked access to filesharing sites, having obtained a John Doe order from a Delhi court to prevent piracy of the movie Don 2 several days before its release. The block was lifted on 30 December 2011.

Video Streaming ServicesTimes Internet Limited knows as TIL is preparing to launch a service in India for Video Streaming. This video streaming service from Times Internet Limited will offer the Internet users in India the premium contents like the Movies and the television shows to watch using the Internet Connection. You will get the benefits of watching high definition movies and all Television Shows on your computer using the internet connection with Times Internet Limiteds Video Streaming services. This service is going to be called BoxTV and it will be available on all types of the computing devices. You can use this service on your Smartphone, your computer and tablet also. The director of New Media at the Times Internet Limited Satyan Gajwani said that he spoke at the Ad-Tech about the new video streaming services. Ad-tech was a three day digital marketing event for companies to announce their new ventures. There are many video services are available on Internet like Hulu and the Netflix. The only problem with those services is that these sites can be accessed only in United States. Indian users can not make any account to watch the premium videos of television shows there. Thats why Times Internet Limited came up with the plan of streaming all types of video content for Indian users.

Indian Government proposes Internet tariff monitoring agencyThere have been some unexpected things in this years Internet history of India. Some of the political figures were shown with different issues on the Social Media sites. There are many social networks are under the law suit of violation of different types of content. Now Indian Govt is proposing an Agency that will monitor the Internet Traffic in India.

This is one of the important issues going on in Internet In India deals. Indian govt is setting up with the National Cyber Centre of India to prevent the future Internet related security threats. The agency is proposed to monitor the Internet Traffic in India on the real time basis and all types of activites made by the Indian Internet users. Some internet users may be not happy with the whole thing going on around with the copyrighting of Internet in India.