Internet Service Providers (ISPs) face a dilemma. What after access.While these are early days, the private operators deserve to be lauded. Take Satyam Infoway for instance. It is aggressively promoting its e-commerce portal and pumping in a huge quantum of funds to ensure high visibility. Then there are others like ETH which is doing its very best to attract subscribers even as its taps a relatively virgin market for regional content. BSES, a Mumbai-based power company, is planning a foray into the ISP market ostensibly because it has access to the last mile. Company officials say their strategy will be to function as an application service providers (ASP) and also generate content related e-commerce. Perhaps over time, most ISPs will be looking at moving along those lines.
All these 140 odd ISPs setting up shop in India will, however, have a lot to worry about if the state owned VSNL and MTNL decide to go for the jugular. They’re sitting on unadulterated potential. Now if only they could get their act together.