Accessing Internet could soon get faster and cheaper. The Department of Telecom is planning to make it mandatory for all Internet Service Providers to connect to the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI).

If this happens then domestic Internet traffic will remain within the country, which will save ISPs the cost of buying international bandwidth. For example, an e-mail sent from Delhi to Mumbai may now be routed through servers in the US for which the ISPs need to buy international bandwidth. If all the ISPs connect to the NIXI then this data can be kept within the country. This will reduce costs which will lead to lower data tariffs.

This system was first suggested by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in 2007 but so far the DoT has not made any serious attempts in putting the policy in place. But now an internal committee has mooted the idea in a bid to make Internet more affordable. The TRAI had also said that NIXI nodes should be set up in all the State capitals to make it convenient for ISPs to connect to the Internet exchange.

“The initiative will substantially bring down ISPs' expenditure on domestic bandwidth, which is likely to reduce content download charges resulting in net reduction in Internet and broadband usage charges. It will also result in better Quality of Service,” said a DoT official.

However, the industry said that the policy may be late by a few years and there are other issues that need to be addressed now. “The biggest issue now is the high cost of domestic bandwidth. When the proposal to connect with NIXI was made few years ago then it made sense because the international bandwidth price was high but that's not the case anymore,” said Mr Rajesh Chharia, President, Internet Service Providers Association of India.

> tkt@thehindu.co.in

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