Uday Lal Pai

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), state-owned telecom carrier and the largest ISP in India, will be listed on the U.S. bourses by December, says Amitabh Kumar, chairman and managing director of the company. “We have decided to list in the US stock exchanges by December, either on NASDAQ or New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or […]

The deck is cleared for $120 million American Depository Receipts (ADRs) issue by the Satyam Infoway, India’s first private ISP, as the Finance Ministry of and Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has approved its proposal to increase the size of its issue. Satyam may be quick off the blocks to launch the offering in the […]

Indian telecom major and ISP Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) within the next two months. The listing will coincide with the next block of divestment so as to provide an option to its European stakeholders to convert their equity into American Depository Receipts (ADRs). “We […]

In its efforts to modernize the markets in the country, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has taken first steps to lay foundation for Internet-based trading in India on a war footing. To ensure that India is not left behind, SEBI has set up two working groups to look into the modalities of […]

The Ministry of Commerce, India plans to commission the country’s electronic data interchange (EDI) network by the end of the year, says government official. Observers believe that this will give a big boost to the role of e-commerce for Indian exporting community in the next millennium. “We have fixed December-end as the target date,”says Nripendra […]

Wipro Net, a joint venture between India’s IT giant Wipro Limited and the $8-billion Royal Dutch Telecom (KPN), is planning to launch Web access, hosting, secure virtual private network services and other Internet-related services by next month. Wipro Net intends to publicly divest a part of its equity within three years. Wipro would control the […]

Several private ISPs have announced plans to set up their own private gateways as soon as possible in order to eliminate dependence on Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) for back-end connectivity to Internet. The move follows the government’s recent decision to let private ISPs to set up their own international gateways. The DoT had announced […]

Although India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is trying to stall all attempts to introduce Internet Protocol (IP) telephony in India, some higher officials feel that the government should lift its ban on the technology. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, a member of the Planning Commission, said voice-over IP (VOIP) would help in rationalizing tariffs and would boost […]

Despite the notable absence of approved legislation for online transactions, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) is all set to facilitate online payment of bills as of Aug. 15, India’s Independence Day. “We decided to go ahead, instead of waiting for the Indian government to enact cyber laws,” said S. Rajagopalan, MTNL’s chairman and managing director. […]

An alliance between Microsoft Corp. India Private Limited and International Computers (India) Limited (ICIL) is all set to grab a piece of the e-commerce pie in India. Under the terms of the tie-up, ICIL will develop e-commerce solutions based on Microsoft platform and technologies and will address the growing domestic and international e-commerce markets, says […]

The government of India has finalized guidelines for ISPs intending to set up private international Internet gateways, effectively ending Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited’s (VSNL) monopoly on the services. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is all set to process formal applications from private operators desirous to set up own gateways. Months after unveiling its Internet policy, […]

The Department of Telecom (DoT), India’s monopoly telecom player, will establish its own Internet backbone, crossing the entire Indian subcontinent within six months. The Telecom Commission of India has set January 26, 2000 as deadline for setting up Internet access nodes at every district in India. The project cost for the national Internet infrastructure is […]