The Department of Telecom (DoT) is going to lower the entry barrier for internet service providers (ISPs) to increase the broadband penetration level in the country, reports The Economic Times. The DoT has agreed on cutting down entry fee and performance bank guarantee (PBG) required for category B and C ISPs. While DoT charges 15 lakh entry fee, PBG of 20L, initial FBG of Rs 1L, and processing fee of Rs 15,000, with the reduced rates DoT is planning to charge Rs 2L entry fee, Rs 10L PBG for category B ISPs. For category C ISPs, where DoT charges Rs 1.5L entry fee, Rs 2L for PBG, Rs 50,000 for initial FBG and Rs 150,000 initial processing fee, with proposed plans it's planning to charge Rs 20,000 entry fee, Rs 50,000 for PBG, Rs 10,000 for initial FBG, and Rs 10,000 processing fees. It's worth noting that India’s target for 2010 was 20 million broadband subscribers and according to recent reports by TRAI, India’s broadband connection base is just 15.09 million at the end of April 2013, from 15.05 million at the end of March. Interestingly, India has a target of 175 million broadband connection by the end of 2017, which seems out of reach looking at the current growth rate. In August 2012, the Government of India has approved the scheme for creation of the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) to provide Broadband connectivity to 2.5 lakh village Panchayats (councils). Telecom commission had approved Rs 20,000 crore in 2011 and the project was supposed to be executed…
