In a recent letter to members, NSE has also outlined three options for connecting terminals to the exchange's network. The exchange is also exploring the option of connecting terminals abroad to its network here, over the Internet. As many as 224 members have expressed intention to set up a total of 261 terminals across 47 cities with the US dominating.

The first option is of seeking connectivity through the International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) network. In this option, the member will have VSNL's point-to-point 64 kbps international leased line link directly from his premises abroad to his trading server in India. There will be a trading workstation at the member's office abroad. All the trading transactions entered through thisterminal will be routed to the member's trading server in India and further routed to the NSE trading system in Mumbai via the existing V-Sat/terrestrial connectivity. The estimated expenditure per year for this option is Rs 40 lakh for a 64 kbps overseas connectivity. There will be additional charges as well, to be worked out later by the exchange.

The second option is the International Private Data Network. Here, the trading terminals from the member's office abroad will be directly linked to the NSE's trading server in Mumbai via the managed data networks provided by private service providers like British Telecom, TMI Networks, IBM Global etc, in association with VSNL. The estimated expenditure per year for this option would be Rs 20 lakh for a 16 kbps overseas connectivity.

The third option to go through the Bloomberg Private Data network. Bloomberg has its own data network with a worldwide presence. Here, NSE members will have to procure Bloomberg terminals one each at member's offices in therespective cities abroad and one single Bloomberg Control terminal in the member's office in India. Each of the Bloomberg terminals will be connected through a dedicated local 64 kbps leased line to the international network of Bloomberg. The NSE's trading system will be linked to the same international network of Bloomberg via a local high-speed leased line.

The estimated expenditure per year under this option is Rs 10-12 lakh per Bloomberg terminal at each of the overseas office. Additionally, the Bloomberg Control terminal at the member's office in India would cost about Rs 10-12 lakh per annum. Only one such common control terminal will be required for a member to manage all the overseas terminals deployed by that member.

The exchange has made it clear that it will be the member's responsibility to take all effective steps for making the chosen option operative.

"The exchange has approached DoT for their approval for extending the NSE trading network connectivity abroad using the above options. Thisis expected to take some time. Simultaneously, the exchange is exploring other options for connecting overseas terminals to the NSE's trading systems eg Internet, Knite Rider private data network (similar to Bloomberg) etc. The exchange will communicate to its members once the study on these options is completed," NSE has said.

"In the meanwhile, we request you to initiate the process for seeking regulatory clearances in the countries where you wish to open NSE terminals. This will help you in commencing the trading facility from abroad immediately after the DoT accords its approval," the letter stated.