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God games

The new Internet policy relented to the plea of the Indian Railways and the Power Grid Corporation that they be allowed to offer surplus telecommunications capacity to private ISPs.

The railways and the grid people would share the lucrative Internet backbone business with only DoT itself and the Videsh Sanchar Nigam

T O D A Y

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Limited.

But the euphoria was short-lived. Days after the policy was made public, it is now clear that DoT's insistence on providing backbone services to the ISPs at 'promotional' rates has rendered absurd the big-bucks business plans of the Indian Railways and the Power Grid Corporation.

DoT has managed to turn the tables on the competition once again.

If they choose to continue in business, the duo will have to work out a mechanism that lets them fix charges that are between promotional and remunerative tariff levels.

However, both organisations agree that this is going to be difficult. Right now they don't have a clue as to how they should go about retrieving the victory which has been so quickly snatched from their hands.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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