However, Kumar said that the current infrastructure in the country was not good enough to support the kind of applications that were gaining momentum. "As we move on towards e-commerce, we have to look at building something big," he said.

"We started three years ago with a single 64 Kbps line. We have grown. But we have to grow a lot more and there is a lot left to be desired," he added.Kumar went on to point out that over the next two years, India would have around 37 million internet users and thousands of e-enabled enterprises. If these numbers have to function efficiently, then the importance of an e-blueprint cannot be undermined.

Responding to a query on VSNL's literal monopoly over the internet market, Kumar said, "we are only licensee's under the Indian Telegraph Act and we can operate in only six cities. Therefore, as compared to other ISPs in the business, we are poor neighbours and cannot be called a monopoly."

Instead, he added, that all of these ISPs will have to work together to building a strong infrastructure using the right kind of technology. This, he said, will have to be a collective bid and not one either aided or funded by the government.

Such initiatives, he said, will be important for development because in the final reckoning, when companies look at setting up a base in India, they are bound to evaluate how good an infrastructural backbone is in place.

Regarding the issue of voice over internet phone (VoIP), Kumar defended VSNL's position to not allow the technology. His argument was that if VoIP were to fall into place, it would mean losses of over $500 million for VSNL."With VoIP, we pay for the connection from here to the satellite and from the satellite to the US. On the other hand, when it comes to conventional telephony, each country pays for its half of the circuit. We are not prepared to pay for the entire circuitry to the US. This is an issue the government will have to sort out," he said.