Internet penetration in India has been restricted due to the high linkage costs and low data transfer rates.
Speaking at the Telecomm India 2003 seminar, Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala, professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai said, "Internet based education and Internet based entertainment has not made any significant impact in India."
With approximately 45 million people using the internet through the dial-up or fixed lines across the country, the average speed for a user is around 10 kbps on 33.6 kbps modem at a cost of Rs 35 per hour, while through a dedicated always on connection, a user can have an access speed up to 100 kbps at Rs 500 per month.
Most of the Internet connections in India were through dial up networking, said Jhunjhunwala.
Jhunjhunwala also stressed that problem of high costs was further complicated by the fact that Indian Internet Service Provider's often connected to each other through international gateways and links, which lowered the speed of the internet traffic.
"With most of the traffic going to servers located in the West, Internet bandwidth cannot be made affordable," Jhunjhunwala said.
Setting up of local Internet exchanges, generating Indian content and mirror sites would help in bringing down costs, which will propel the spread of the medium into the rural and semi-urban areas.
With the installation of such infrastructure within the country, international traffic fraction will be reduced from about 85 per cent to around 25 per cent.
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