http://www.india-gii.org/wiki/index.php/Position_Papers/VPN_Tax
From Www.india-gii.org
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/923746.cms DoT to dash hopes of virtual private network ISPs MANOJ GAIROLA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2004 11:58:11 PM] NEW DELHI: Standalone ISPs, including Satyam Infoway, HCL, Global Telesystems and Estel will be hit by the new policy that imposes an entry fee of Rs 10 crore and an annual revenue share of 8% on gross revenue of ISPs providing virtual private network (VPN) services.
A "crore" is 10 million, so this ridiculous "entry fee" is approx 2.2 million dollars at current exchange rates..
I guess it depends on how you define a VPN over just a private network. Is an SSH tunnel a VPN? What about an encrypting SOCKS proxy?
DJ
Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:
Deepak Jain [16/11/04 18:15 -0500]:
I guess it depends on how you define a VPN over just a private network.
Is an SSH tunnel a VPN? What about an encrypting SOCKS proxy?
This "tax" is aimed at a few Indian ISPs that are making lots of money
selling managed IP-VPN services.. the incumbent telco seems to think all the
money going there would be better spent by companies if they bought copper /
fiber from it, and so the DoT (http://www.dot.gov.in) - lots of telco types
there who wouldn't know a vpn from a hole in the ground - decided to "level
the playing field"
Just for laughs, here's the DoT press release on this:
srs
http://www.dot.gov.in/pressnote10nov04ISP.doc
142/04
www.pib.nic.in
PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA