The meeting is expected to generate a lot of heat as a large number of ISPs are quite sore with DoT and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd over these issues.They are of the opinion that most ISPs have not been able to roll out as per their business plans due to the apathetic attitude of the monopoly telecom connectivity provider.

The open-house meeting is the second in the series and ISPs point out that it has been called by DoT only after considerable pressure from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Though an open-house was originally meant to be held quarterly, no meeting has been held by DoT since December 1998.The biggest issue affecting ISPs is lack of bandwidth availability. As they are completely dependent on DoT and MTNL for PSTN, ISDN andE1/R2 lines, many ISPs have not been able to start services even several months after schedule.

The ISDN and E1/R2 lines are not easily available everywhere in the country and their pricing has been open to different interpretations by the ISPs and local telecom authorities in different cities.

Similarly, for the availability of long-distance lease lines, certain ISPs have bitterly complained of being made to run from pillar to post by the circle officers who have in certain instances questioned the need of bulk lines by the provider.

This is in spite of DoT circulars instructing immediate availability of at least 50 per cent of the PSTN demand and priority treatment for leased lines applications. But certain ISPs claim that they are yet to get the connectivity though they had applied for inter-city long-distance leased lines as early as December-January.

According to industry sources, Wilnet had applied to VSNL for a international bandwidth in December 1998 and has since approached TRAI. However,little has happened in spite of TRAI intervention, they claim.Wipro claims it has been levied double rental on a single leased line though TRAI had mentioned in its tariff order that the charges for the lease lines specified will be transparent of the media.

Similarly, Sprint RPG has been slapped with extra leased line charge for the distance from their node to the exchange.

Last but not the least is the contentious issue of Rs 15,000 PSTN access levy charge by DoT on e-mail providers for the period between 1994-95 till April '99. TRAI has asked DoT to keep the order in abeyance and called a meeting on the issue next week.