VSNL heavily slashed the registration charges for ISDN from Rs 5,000 to Rs 100 while the user charges have been brought down in the range of 40-50 per cent, prescribing an extended time limit of three years against the one year earlier for the usage of the allotted hours. The 50 hours usage plan will now cost Rs 1,570 against the earlier Rs 2,150. The 100 hours plan is to cost Rs 2,850 against earlier Rs 5,500 while the 500 hours costs Rs 10,450 with the earlier charges being Rs 19,000.

The devices market is gearing up for the major growth phase. New launches include products from LG, costing Rs 7,500 and Aver Media, again in the same range. The LG model, LPC U30 does a number of functions like videl mail and editing digital photos and images.

The camera and editing can becontrolled through PC software such as NetMeeting from Microsoft and output signal is in the form of USB. The camera is able to support instant and moving images in various categories such as VGA for web pages, newsletters and other projects.

Says Picturetel country manager, N Sundar,"the market has been growing at a pace of around 30-40 per cent but now it may touch 50 per cent. PictureTel had a growth of around 70 per cent last year." PictureTel says that it accounted for Rs 25 crore of the total sales of Rs 30 crore last year.