Mr. Sidhartha Ray

Sidhartha Ray, managing director, Data Access said, "We will furnish the undertaking on Friday following which we also will get the start-off letter from the government."

According to Sidhartha Ray, managing director of DataAccess, "ISPs will have to come up with a specific business plan to earn revenue from Internet telephony."

Before Internet telephony was legalised on Monday, Internet users illegally used various chat services for voice chat.Legalising Internet telephony has not done much for ISPs.

Still if you have a PC with an Internet connection, you just need to download free software like BuddyPhone, Dialpad or PC2Phone, which will allow you to make telephone calls over the Internet.

Customers are likely to use these as they will pay only for the connectivity time and not the Internet telephony tariff set by ISPs.

The company believes that the service can be offered at half the price of what consumers are paying at present," PTI quoted Data Access Chief Executive Sidhartha Ray as saying.

Ray said his company was awaiting approvals for its planned tariffs from the nation's telecoms regulator.

Overseas call charges from India are among the world's highest and are set to plummet once private players, notably companies such as Data Access and India's Bharti and Reliance groups, enter the nearly $1.3-billion-a-year business.Bharti plans to launch its service in the second week of April while Reliance is targeting an end-April or an early-May launch.

A call from India to the United States costs nearly a dollar a minute, about three times what a caller there pays to call India.

PTI said Data Access, which offers Internet access services to over 170,000 customers under the NOW brandname in four Indian cities, had signed interconnect agreements with more than a dozen international carriers.

The interest of various ISPs has also decreased," ISPAI president and Data Access India managing director Sidhartha Ray said.

As a result of the prevailing turmoil in the ITSP business, companies like Estel Communication have dropped plans to enter the retail ITSP business.

Marketing costs are very high for the retail business," says Sidhartha Ray, Managing Director of Data Access India.

The interest of various ISPs has also decreased," ISPAI president and Data Access India managing director Sidhartha Ray said.

As a result of the prevailing turmoil in the ITSP business, companies like Estel Communication have dropped plans to enter the retail ITSP business.

Mr. Sidhartha Ray, Managing Director, Data Access