No growth in Internet subscription despite falling surfing rates
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2004-03-26 •
Despite Internet surfing charges falling steeply (half of what they used to be a few years ago) over the last couple of years, there has been no major growth in the number of net subscribers. An ICRA report published recently says, The number of Internet subscribers in the country is showing a low growth. For instance, new Internet connections, which grew to 3 million by March 2001 from 0.28 million in March 1999, stand at 4 million in 2003. This apart, Internet access through other means such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and cable are yet to take off in a big way because of the high cost of access devices like cable modems and lack of quality broadband content, it said.
The situation is such that about 200 Internet Service Provider (ISP) licenses have been surrendered in the last few months as suggested by the ICRA report. Currently, many ISPs have stopped new dial-up connections because they incur more losses as users surf more. Severe competition among ISPs led to rates dropping to Rs 8-9 per hour, while the actual cost is around Rs 16-17 per hour. In the recent past, even some big tech companies have been compelled to move out of the ISP business. Companies such as Wipro and BPL have stopped providing Internet services, while ISPs such as Caltiger, which once had about 0.75 million subscribers, have folded up.
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