How to become an ISP in India?

An Internet service provider (ISP) is a company that provides customers with Internet access. Data is transferred using several technologies, dial-up, DSL, cable modem, wireless or high-speed interconnectors. Starting an ISP business is not as easy as it sounds. But with a proper plan and resources, it is not impossible either.

The biggest challenge to becoming an ISP in India is the huge amount of initial capital required for the licensing, equipment and infrastructure. Internet Network bandwidth, equipment cooling and power sources are all resources that have to be planned and executed properly.

Following are the steps to start an ISP:

  • First step is to acquire an ISP (Internet Service Provider) License to run the business of Broadband in India. Any MSO can apply to obtain the ISP License UL (Unified Licensing) System. UL License is given by DoT and it is valid for 20 Years.
  • One must decide the coverage of the area of the services offered. One can choose from three categories that is-
  1. Category A ISP: Covers the entire country.
  2. Category B ISP: Covers one of the 20 major states in India.
  3. Category C ISP: Covers one secondary switching area i.e. a small town, a village, a colony or a district.
  • The third utmost important step is to have a NOC (Network Operations Centre) with raised floors that can route cables easily.
  • The company will have to purchase, install and configure enterprise-grade routers, switches and computers. In addition, the company has to also purchase power backup solutions, in case of power cuts.
  • The next step is to have bandwidth with minimum two or more upstream internet service from telecom providers like Reliance Com to resell it to the clients.
  • A company can peer at an Internet Exchange and offload traffic and perhaps saves huge amount of Internet Bandwidth.

Eligibility Criteria for Internet Service Providers.

A company registered in India under the Companies Act, 1956 will be eligible to submit the proposal for providing Internet Service. Foreign equity shall be as per the Government policy and guidelines issued from time to time. At present, the foreign equity is permitted to the extent of 49 percent. There is no requirement for the applicant-company to have any prior experience in information technology or telecommunication services.

LICENSE FEE: The license fee shall be waived for a period of five years up-to 31.3.2003.The license fee to be paid relating to the period starting from 1.4.2003 by the Licensee company will be intimated on or before 1.4.2001 and shall be payable to the Telecom Authority irrespective of the time of entry of an ISP.

PERIOD OF VALIDITY OF THE LICENSE AND ITS EXTENSION: The license shall be valid for an initial period of ten years unless otherwise terminated. If requested by the Licensee, the extension may be granted by the Telecom Authority on suitable terms and conditions for a period of five years or more at a time.

TARIFF: ISP’s will be free to fix their own tariff. The tariff will be left open to be decided by market forces. However, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) may review and fix a tariff at any time during the validity of the license which shall be binding on the Licensee.

NUMBER OF LICENSES FOR ISP’s: Applicants will be required to submit the separate application for each Service Area. An applicant company may be granted any number of licenses. There will also be no limit on the number of licenses that can be granted in a particular Service Area. The leased-line subscribers of the Service will be from within the Service Area but the dial-up-access subscribers could be located anywhere in the country.

OBSCENE MATERIAL AND CYBER LAWS: Flow of obscene, objectionable, unauthorized or any other content infringing copyrights, intellectual property right and against international and domestic Cyber laws (as and when established) in any form over the ISP’s network is not permitted.

COST OF APPLICATION FORM AND PROCESSING FEE: A nominal cost of Rs.1000/- for the Application Form and Rs.5000/- towards processing fee for each application which is non-refundable have been prescribed.

Steps to get ISP License in India:

About DE-CIX India:

DE-CIX India is an interconnection hub for the major Indian and international networks and is powered by DE-CIX which operates the world’s largest Internet Exchange. DE-CIX India runs carrier and datacenter- neutral Internet Exchange Points in the Indian cities Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Kolkata.

  • MumbaiWeb Werks DC2- Rabale

                          Netmgaic DC5- Chandivali

ST Telemedia DC- Prabhadevi

GPX Mumbai- Andheri

You can also apply for ASN directly by going to APNIC and IRINN websites.

Apply Now :

From APNIC
From IRINN

 

A Complete Guide to an Internet Exchange Point

What does an Internet Exchange Point do? How does it work? What benefits does it provide, and why are more and more ISPs turning to them? Find out here:

  • What Is An Internet Exchange Point?

An Internet exchange point (IXP) is a network point at which Internet service providers and Content Delivery Networks exchange Internet traffic between their networks. At an IXP, all participants’ networks interconnect via common switching equipment instead of via each other’s internal infrastructure. Each participant in an IXP generally has two connections to every other participant’s networks: one for incoming traffic from peers at a lower speed which will be delivered internally, and another for sending higher-speed traffic to peers external to that organization. Thus, an IXP allows Internet service providers to exchange high volumes of traffic among themselves without incurring these costs on their own infrastructure or purchasing transit services from any other entity. Inbound data can come at higher speeds without being throttled by low-speed customer connections, and outbound data can be delivered more quickly with fewer hops across different networks.

  • History Of IXPs

The growth of Internet traffic over time is staggering: At its inception, on October 29th, 1969—the moment you’ve likely heard about as being the birth of the Internet—less than 5 kilobytes of data was transmitted over ARPANET. Forty years later (as of November 2010), ARPANET alone transferred an astounding 10 petabytes of data per day! As such, ISP-to-ISP connections using IXPs are not something we need today because there isn’t enough capacity built into the Internet infrastructure to support them yet. This will change soon, though. As Web 2.0 and social media continue to grow in popularity and importance, ISPs will start building more connections between each other so that every device, no matter where it is physically located in global networks, can access all services.

  • Benefits Of An Internet Exchange Point

IXPs allow organizations with direct connections to exchange Internet traffic without paying for transit. Traffic can be transported between exchanges using any protocol and topology with no restrictions. They provide a more efficient route of network traffic by eliminating intermediate providers. An IXP also eliminates congestion and packet loss in networks caused by downstream providers at peering points. Another major benefit of IXP is network resilience.

  • How Does It Work?

An Internet exchange point (IXP) is a large and geographically distributed network of IP routers through which many Internet service providers (ISPs) exchange Internet traffic. This architecture allows local ISPs to connect and exchange traffic with each other rather than send all traffic out through their international links. Traffic from one IXP can be quickly switched to another if there is a link failure or if there are problems with any of the equipment in a particular IXP.

  • Where Are They Located?

The simplest way of defining it is as a physical location where Internet service providers (ISPs) interconnect, forming a point through which data can pass directly between them. So, essentially, Internet exchange points are places where ISPs come together—usually in a neutral, third-party building or at least not in their own facilities—to trade traffic freely and without being charged.

To conclude

Internet Exchange Points are a great way to exchange internet traffic between various networks that do not have direct connections. It can significantly lower latency and increase overall network performance. This write-up aims to give you a basic understanding of what an Internet Exchange Point is, how it works, and its benefits.

Who Provides Internet Service to Internet Service Providers – ISPs

Who Provides Internet Service to Internet Service Providers – ISPs

You need to understand what an Internet Service Provider is before understanding who offers an internet service to ISPs or internet service providers.

Definition of Internet service provider:

An ISP (Internet service provider) is an organization that offers services for using and accessing the Internet. The structure of internet service providers can take many different forms, including commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or other types of privately owned businesses.

An ISP community is the only industry which helps us in utilizing the benefits of internet and the great opportunities it holds for us. It only requires a modem and router for getting started.

The services provided by the ISP can include,

  1. Internet transit
  2. Internet access
  3. Domain name registration
  4. Collocation
  5. Usenet service

Now the question is who provides the internet to the ISPs?

ISPs provides data connection to their subscribers by virtue of which they can connect smartphones and other gadgets by using Wi-Fi routers available for providing internet. Also, they establish a high bandwidth connection(s) to either an internet exchange, or other ISPs, or as a combination of both. ISPs can also connect directly to (content) service providers or even host their servers directly inside one of their facilities (common with Google, Facebook, Netflix, etc.)

Let’s discuss some common terms used.

Peering

Peering is a method that allows two networks to connect and exchange traffic directly without having to pay a third party to carry traffic across the Internet.

In order to acquire the most traffic, two different types of tier networks are typically used, along with peering and bridging. The majority of large businesses choose to set up their own peering connections.

This approach is used by reputable internet service providers. They offered the subscribers access to their own network at the time of ISP peering. The entire processing is free, and neither ISP is paid by the other.

Peering at Internet Exchange Point (IXP

There are two types of Peering, one is public peering and another is private peering.

Peering at Internet Exchange Point (IXP) –

What is Internet Exchange Point (IXP)

Internet Exchange Point is a position where many ISPs interconnect their network together. Probably several peering sessions can be established across a single IXP peering.

IP-Transit

Small data providers prefer for IP-transit to operate.

This is typically utilized in situations where the ISP is unable to connect to the outside world.

As a result, IP-transit reaches people that ISPs cannot. In general, it involves transporting internet traffic that exists between continents.

Thus, it can be connected to different types of ISP that is a paid service. The payment of the ISP depends on the amount of traffic attracted by the IP-Transit.

Network Tiers available in the market

       1. Tier 1

It is the huge network intended for offering the internet to ISPs. Therefore, it is a kind of transit free network that is required for peering with every other tier 1.

      2. Tier 2

This kind is required for peering with different type of networks, but still goes for payment settlement in order to reach some segment of the internet.

      3. Tier 3

Tier 3 is a type of network, which purchases the transit from different types of networks in order to reach the internet.

These tiers are available depending on the cost and quality. All the three kinds of tiers are known as the high performance networks.

The major goal of employing these levels is to direct customers toward the preferred providers. The easiest strategy to reduce costs while maintaining the top tier is in this way. These layers are important because they protect customer choice.

Consequently, the networks are perfect for allowing the users to provide the widest types of internet service provider.