Currently, the department has already commissioned 245 domestic nodes, out of which only two nodes, Delhi and Banglore, offer international connectivity. This had strapped ISPs who had to struggle with leased lines to physically connect their point of presence (POP) to the backbone, through the two nodes.

With the commissioning of the 43 new nodes across the country, not only will connectivity be easier for ISPs, there will be more capacity available to them to connect to international gateways.

The 43 new nodes in the broadband-based access network will consist of four Type A-1 nodes (with international gateway connectivity), eight Type A-II nodes (node without international gateway connectivity) and 31 Type B nodes (for smaller stations). The two current nodes in Delhi and Bombay are Type A-1 nodes offering international gateway connectivity.

In the second phase commencing next month, the DTO build five more Type B nodes. "We have planned to set up 375 Internet nodes in all, with at least one each in secondary switching areas (SSA)" a senior official in the department told The Financial Express.

He further said that while 245 such nodes, covering 215 SSAs have already been commissioned, the balance SSA will be commissioned progressively by December 2000.

Also on the agenda is a plan to augument bandwidth connectivity of NIB nodes by the end of this year. "After augumentation, the bandwidth will be enhanced to STM1 (155 mbps) between the A-1 nodes and from A-II to A-I nodes while B nodes will be connected on 2x34 mbps," the official said. Currently, A-1 nodes are connected at 34 mbps, while the remaining nodes offer only 2x4 mbps connectivity.

The efforts to enhance the domestic bandwidth has come after the Prime Minister's announcement to create a super information highway within the country to facilitate the functioning of the IT sector.

"We hardly have any bandwidth within the country on which to build our services. For instance, even the two busiest business hubs Delhi and Mumbai have connectivity of a few kbps only, which gets clogged even during the lean hours of the day," says Mr Bharat Bhatia, president, Core Group of Telecom Industry Associations.