The requirement for a financial bank guarantee for an amount commensurate to the licence fee will be done away with. However, the performance bank guarantee (valid for two years) of Rs 2 crore for category-A services, Rs 20 lakh for category B and Rs 3 lakh for category C will be required.

ISPs will be allowed to provide the service within a `reasonable timeframe' from the date of the grant of licence period. Earlier, they were expected to roll out service within 18 months of signing the licence. This is expected to give them flexibility to chalk out their business plans.

Access to Internet through authorised cable operators will be permitted to the ISPs without additional licencing, subject to applicable laws thereby meaning Cable Act of1995).

Most significantly, the `last mile linkage' will be freely allowed to ISPs either by optic fibre or radio communication. In case of radio linkage, a clearance from WPO will be required to avoid frequency interference. However, Internet voice telephony will not be permitted. The policy does not indicate what the government proposed to do to with the freely available software that converts voice into data in order to circumvent such a ban.

No fee is proposed to be levied for the first five years of the licence, while a token Re 1 will be charged for the subsequent five years. But the department has reserved the right to levy an yet-undetermined fee for the extended five-year period. The task force had recommended that only a Re 1 fee be charged for the entire period.

The policy has been suitably amended by the department of telecom (DoT) to include most recommendations made by the Prime Minister's IT Task Force. The final policy might be announced by the month end after senior DoT officials returnfrom International Telecom Union (ITU) meet and a new minister is appointed, DoT sources said.

However, two ISP applicants contacted by `The Financial Express' expressed fears that the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (VSNL) monopoly over the internet access might tacitly continue as the policy draft is silent about the logistics, or terms and conditions of setting up such gateways.

For instance, it is not yet clear whether the private gateways will hook up to the Net nodal links in USA, Europe or Singapore through VSNL earth stations, or allowed to set up earth stations of their own. In the event neither is allowed, the policy ought to spell out if ISPs would be allowed to lay their own optic fibre lines to connect to the global Internet network, bypassing earth stations altogether.

So even if ISPs can have a international private leased circuit, they might still have to go via VSNL. In case they are dependent on VSNL till 2004 when its monopoly comes to an end, the revenue division should have beenspecified, the ISPs pointed out. Hence, this `delightful silence' could lead to continuance of VSNL monopoly, they feared. At present, VSNL provides Net access from its six international gateways.

``In case, we still go through their earth stations, the larger ISPs with 20,000 plus connections might face clogging problems. We will also be handicapped as we will be dependent on VSNL's skills of planning,'' said one ISP applicant.

The draft has also not addressed two other important issues. While the ISPs will require a clearance from the ministry of defence and other security agencies before starting gateways, the references to a nodal authority and norms for such a reference ought to be laid down clearly, they said.

Similarly, the policy draft does not spell out if V-SATs can be used as infrastructure by leasing it out to others to be used for ISP purposes. If the existing E-mail and VSAT providers want to become ISPs, they will be required to apply for a separate licence.