------------------------------------------------------------ The Department Of Telecommunications (India) Value Added Services Licensing Information (March 2 1994) ------------------------------------------------------------ 1.0 INTRODUCTION Telecommunications has been identified the world over as a basic infrastructure essential for socio-economic development of a country. Modernisation and expansion of existing telecom services and introduction of new services is of utmost importance for future growth of Telecommunication services in the country. The Department of Telecommunications has constantly endeavoured to upgrade technologies and has introduced digital electronic exchanges in major cities of the country. Long distance network has also been digitalised either through digital microwave, coaxial or optical fibre cables. Besides most of the rural exchanges are also of electronic type. With the availability of improved telecom, infrastructure and demand from public for new Value Added Services, there is an urgent need to introduce Value Added Services in the country. Value Added Services are enhanced services which add value to the existing basic tele services and bearer services. The Department of Telecommunications has decided to franchise value added services to the Indian registered companies on a non-exclusive basis. Proposals for provision/operation of these services on license basis will be entertained by the DoT for the following value added services: (i) Electronic Mail (ii) Voice Mail (iii) 64Kbps Pvt. Data Domestic Service using VSAT (iv) Audiotex service (v) Direct Access Code Dialling (vi) Bulletin Board Service (vii) Videotex Service (viii) Video Conferencing (ix) Morning Alarm Service Service providers can also submit their proposal for any other value added services giving complete details of the same. 2.0 PROCEDURE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS FOR VALUE ADDED SERVICES 2.1 Proposals can be submitted by Indian registered companies for provision of these services under a license. 2.2 The license will be given on a non-exclusive basis. 2.3 The proposer of the service should submit the proposal indicating the following: (a) Details of the proposals, indicating the location and area of coverage. (b) Full details and status of the proposers. 2.4 The proposals may be submitted in original and 6 copies by registered post to the Director (TM-I), Department of Telecommunications, Room No. 339, Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi - 110001. 2.5 The following documents are required to be submitted along with the proposal: (a) Copy of the certificate of registration from the Registrar of the companies. (b) Articles of memorandum of association of the Indian Company (c) Record of past performance/experience in the service area for which the offer is submitted. (d) If any foreign partner is proposed following documents are also required to be submitted: (i) Copy of the agreement between the Indian and the foreign partner. (ii) Approval of the Govt. of India for the terms of foreign collaboration if already taken, otherwise copy of the application submitted to the Govt. of India in this regard; together with the proof of submission. 2.6 The proposals can be submitted by a company which has purchased this document. A separate document should be purchased for each service and proof of purchase should be attached. 2.7 Clause by clause compliance report in respect of technical, commercial and financial conditions must be submitted. Deviations if any must be separately highlighted. 2.8 The proposer should enclose original bank guarantee towards earnest money valid for 6 months in the prescribed format issued by any scheduled bank for Rs. 10000/- (Rupees ten thousand only). 2.8.1 The proposer can ask for any clarification in writing. 2.9 GENERAL INFORMATION The proposal submitted will be technically evaluated. If the proposal meets the technical requirements and the proposer agrees to abide by the commercial and financial conditions of the Department, the proposal will be approved and a letter of intent will be issued. The letter of intent will have to be converted into a license after fulfilling the various conditions. The other conditions on which the LOI will be issued are as follows: 2.9.1 The company shall not approach the public for raising money for provision of Service before the issue of the license. 2.9.2 The company shall comply with the terms and conditions laid down by the Dpartment of Telecom including payment of license fee in time. 2.9.3 The service shall not start before the actual signing and issuing of the license agreement. 3.0 ELECTRONIC MAIL 3.1 ABOUT THE SERVICE Electronic mail service allows two or more subscribers to communicate with each other using electronically transmitted text messages from any standard alphanumeric terminal including personal computers. The messages are suitably stored in the mailbox of the customer from where they can be retrieved at his convenience. The specification of electronic mail services have been defined in CCITT recommendations X.400 3.2 LICENSE FEE AND TARRIFFS FOR THE SERVICE 3.2.1 LICENSE FEE The license fee payable to the Department of Telecom. First two years 25 lakhs (per each year) Next two years 35 lakhs (per each year) Last one year 50 lakhs (per each year) 3.2.2 Access and other charges shall be payable to the Department of Telecom at the prescribed rates. 3.2.3 The licensee can operate anywhere in the country. 3.2.4 The license period will be five years. 3.2.5 File transfer and protocol conversion services will be allowed. 3.2.6 Store and forward FAX Services will also be permitted. 3.2.7 EDI/Data Base Services will be viewed as an extension of the same corpus of services and will be permitted as above. 3.3 TARIFFS 3.3.1 The Deptt. of Telecom has fixed ceiling on the tariff that can be charged from the subscribers by the licensee. Within the ceiling cap the licensee will be free to fix his own tariffs. The ceiling tariffs are subject to review and revision at the discretion of the Department of Telecom. The ceiling tariffs are given in section 3.5 3.4 BANK GUARANTEES The licensee will have to submit bank guarantees as follows: i) Financial Bank Guarantee: This guarantee shall be for Rs. 50 lakhs. ii) Performance Bank Guarantee: Two Bank guarantees of Rs. 5 lakhs each. 3.5 PROPOSED CEILING TARIFF 1. Initial Registration fee (one time) Rs. 1000/- (One thousand only) 2. Rental (including software) for mailbox of 500 (Kilobytes) Rs. 4200/- p.a. 3. System Utilisation Charge Basic Transport Fee (BTF) (message of 2500 bytes) Rs. 2/- per ordinary Rs. 4/- per express. 4. Connect time charges via PSTN/PAD/PSPDN: Re. 1/- per minute. Via telex: Re. 1/- per minute. Delivery to E-mail Subscriber's Mail box: only BTF Delivery to FAX number: BTF plus Rs. 15/- per page FAX conversion charge plus actual call charges payable to DoT. Delivery to telex number: BTF plus Re. 1/- per 400 characters as Telex conversion charges plus actual call charges payable to DoT. Non Delivery notification: Free Transmit Confirmation: Re. 1/- per message (Optional) For international deliveries: The above tariff plus actual cost payable to VSNL (Rs. 2/- plus Rs. 13/- = Rs. 15/- at present). Non-delivery (Notification): Free Transmit Confirmation (Optional): Re. 1/- per message 5. Delivery options for recipient subscribers: (i) Delivery to mail box: Local delivery - Free (ii) Delivery to subscriber terminal: Outside the node - BTF plus actual call charge, payable to DoT. (iii) Change of option: Rs. 25/- 6. Security deposit (non interest bearing): Rs. 4200/- 7. Installation and commissioning charges modem at subscriber end (one time charge): (a) Licensee modem Dialup or leased Rs. 800/- (b) Subscriber owned Rs. 500/- 8. Equipment (modem) rental bimonthly rental charge for licensee modem: Rs. 5000/- p.a. for leased, Rs. 2750/- p.a. for dialup (speeds upto 2.4Kbps) 9. Basic E-mail user software: Nil 10. Optional facilities advanced e-mail software, on-site user training: Not fixed. 11. Urgent Delivery of email (Text/FAX/Telex) (to be delivered within 2 hrs.): Already covered under charges for express message. (item 3) Note: The proposed ceiling tariff will be applicable for only those facilities which are provided by the licensee. 4.0 VOICE MAIL 4.1 ABOUT THE SERVICE Voice mail service facilitates the storage and retrieval of voice messages telephonically. The service will be specially useful for the subscribers who are constantly on move or do not have a telephone of their own. The subscribers of this service have a voice mail number and a mail box. Anybody wanting to send a message can dial his number and leave the same in his mailbox from where it can be retrieved at the convenience of the subscriber. 4.2 LICENSE FEE AND TARIFFS 4.2.1 LICENSE FEE The license fee for this service will depend upon the city in which the service is to be provided and the number of telephone connections working in the city. It will be as follows: For Bombay & Delhi: Rs. 15 Lakhs For Calcutta & Madras: Rs. 10 Lakhs For each of the other cities: Rs. 5 lakh 4.2.2 TARIFFS Given below is the ceiling of tariff proposed: --------------|-----------------|---------------------- Class | Min. messages | Monthly rental (Rs.) --------------|-----------------|---------------------- General | 5 | 200 Special | 10 | 350 Super special | 20 | 600 Fantastic | 30 | 1000 --------------|-----------------|---------------------- Length of messages in each category and time for which storage is allowed is being finalised. 5.0 64KBPS PVT. DATA DOMESTIC SERVICE USING VSAT 5.1 ABOUT THE SERVICE This service will provide 64 Kbps data connectivity (or voice) between various sites scattered throughout India, using Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) and a central Hub. The service will be specially useful in remote and inaccessible areas. 5.2 GENERAL CONDITIONS This service will be permitted using INSAT-2B transponders in the extended C-Band only. The applicants must indicate the power required from the satellite per RF carrier, number of such RF carriers, frequency stability of RF carriers etc. LOI will be issued to all such applicants who will comply with the technical, commercial and financial requirements of the Deptt. The period of license will be ten years. 5.3 LICENSE FEE AND TARIFF 5.3.1 LICENSE FEE The license fee payable to DoT for the service will be Rs. 50,000/- per subscriber per annum subject to a minimum of Rs. one crore per year for the first two years and Rs. one crore fifty lakhs per annum for the third year. The minimum license fee will be reviewed thereafter. 5.3.2 TARIFFS Tariff is under finalisation. 6.0 AUDIOTEX SERVICE 6.1 ABOUT THE SERVICE Audiotex is a premium service that caters to the information needs of the subscribers by providing information of various matters such as Horoscopes, Arrivals and Departures, Matrimonials, etc. telephonically. The subscriber can dial the particular code and listen to the desired information over his telephone instrument. The Terms and conditions for this service are yet to be finalised. 7.0 DIRECT ACCESS CODE DIALLING 7.1 ABOUT THE SERVICE The service is analogous to a remote PCO and is especially useful for those subscribers who do not have STD/ISD facility or even a telephone of their own. The subscribers of this service are given an account number and password. Whenever they want to make a call anywhere, they dial the incoming number of the service provider from where they get voice prompts asking them for the service required. The subscriber can then enter his account number and the password and dial any destination in the world. The call is routed on the junctions of the service provider who collects the bill from the subscriber. 7.2 LICENSE FEE AND TARIFFS License fee and tariffs for this service are under finalisation. 8.0 BULLETIN BOARD SERVICE 8.1 ABOUT THE SERVICE The service is basically a computer based service that provides for a shared platform for public domain information such as delicensed software, games, information of public interest, on linechat and newscasts etc. The service can also cater to personal mail needs of its members. The centralized computer is connected to various nodes via telecommunication lines. 8.2 LICENSE FEE AND TARIFFS 8.2.1 LICENSE FEE License fee for the service will be Rs. 1200/- per subscriber per annum subject to a minimum of Rs. 15 Lakhs. 8.2.2 TARIFFS The ceiling tariff for the service will be as follows: i) Registration charge (one time): Rs. 1000/- ii) Annual subscription to BBS: Rs. 1500/- iii) Connect time charges (being actual time spent): Rs. 4/- per minute (9AM to 6PM), Rs 2/- per minute (6PM to 9AM) iv) Security deposit: Nil 9.0 VIDEOTEX SERVICE 9.1 ABOUT THE SERVICE This service is an information service that provides for the information to be displayed as text on any standard video terminal in the subscriber's premises. The information of different types is obtained and provided by a number of information providers that interface with the service provider who in turn interfaces with the network provider. 9.2 LICENSE FEE AND TARIFFS FOR THE SERVICE License fee and tariffs for this service are under finalisation. 10.0 VIDEO CONFERENCING 10.1 ABOUT THE SERVICE The service permits a number of subscribers to have a conference together while being in different places physically. The subscribers can see and talk with one another. The service may be provided from studios or from the subscribers premises. 10.2 LICENSE FEE AND TARIFFS FOR THE SERVICE License fee and tariffs for this service are under finalisation. 11.0 MORNING ALARM SERVICE 11.1 ABOUT THE SERVICE The service facilitates the subscriber to register for an alarm at the desired time using his telephone instrument. The alarm is automatically given at the desired time without manual intervention. 11.2 LICENSE FEE AND TARIFFS FOR THE SERVICE License fee and tariffs for this service are under finalisation. I didn't bother to type in Sections 12.0 thru 17.* of this tragicomic excuse for a document but here are the highlights: The rest of the document talks about various things like *quality* of service (ha, look who's talking!), reserves the DoT's right to accept or reject applications without assigning reasons, reserves the DoT's rights to change tariffs at whim, expressly states that all equipment and infrastructure must be bought and maintained by the licensee (in other words the DoT will take the moolah but not lift a finger to help the licensee after that) and says that licensee needs to give a 365 day warning before terminating license and if quality is not maintained for those 365 days then the licensee forfeits any right to the bank guarantees submitted by him. The DoT can terminate license pretty much at whim, though. Some parts also state that "any officer specially authorized... [can] direct that any message or class of messages... shall be intercepted or detained or shall be disclosed to the Government making the order or an officer thereof mentioned in the order." So much for privacy. The DoT also makes various claims in the rest of the document that it shall have various regulatory powers over VA service providers and proclaims itself supreme to do all sorts of prying into the business of the VA service provider including have power to 'approve' or 'disapprove' the VA supplier's rate structure. They also continue to use of sexist male pronouns in the rest of the document. /-//\..\~/-/