Resumen
The article highlights the development of the Internet infrastructure in India. It delineates efforts of the Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to address the country's emerging and potentially great demand for the Internet infrastructure. The Ministry of Communication has fostered the development process by inducing two state-owned companies, "Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL)," for international communication bandwidth users, and "Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., (MTNL)" for metropolitan cities of New Delhi and Mumbai, India. As of April 1999, the country had two telephones per 100 people. Along with the new Internet backbone, Indian government now intends to provide telephone on demand, including coverage of all villages, by 2002. The government's official policy is to accelerate the growth, penetration, and availability of Internet services. In addition to the nodes being set up by DoT, VSNL and MTNL, the government has issued licenses to approximately 100 private Internet service providers, and another large number is being reviewed for licenses, though few are online as yet.