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Indian govt. seeks power to issue IP address locally
By siliconindia
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Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 21:59 IST
New Delhi: Indian Government along with Internet Service Providers Association of India has approached the Australia-based Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) to seek power to provide IP address in India through National Internet Registry (NIR). Currently, anybody who wants to get their own IP address have to apply to APNIC. While globally, IP addresses are controlled by the U.S.-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), according to Business Line.
To apply for an IP address through APNIC is often time consuming and expensive. That is the reason why most entities in India do not own their own IP addresses and take whatever their bandwidth provider allocates. If the process is shifted to NIR then it will be less time consuming as well as cheaper. "At present, if one wants an IP address that entity has to pay the retail price directly to APNIC. If an Indian NIR is set up, it will buy IP addresses from APNIC on wholesale rates and then resell it to Indian corporates at much lower rates," said an ISP executive.
If Indian companies have their own IP address then they will be able to retain it irrespective of the bandwidth provider. "Companies at present prefer to take whatever IP address is given to them by the service provider because applying for a static IP address from APNIC is a cumbersome process. The NIR will enable Indian companies to get their own IP address which they can keep even if they change their bandwidth providers," said an industry representative. Other countries such as China, Japan and Vietnam already have their NI
Market watchers say that the application by the Indian government might not be approved by APNIC as it will impact their revenue. "For APNIC it makes more sense if users approach them directly by paying market price. Allowing an NIR in India could hit its income, so there could be some resistance," said a market watcher.
APNIC has put up India's application for discussion among members after which it will take a decision.
Market watchers say that the application by the Indian government might not be approved by APNIC as it will impact their revenue. "For APNIC it makes more sense if users approach them directly by paying market price. Allowing an NIR in India could hit its income, so there could be some resistance," said a market watcher.
APNIC has put up India's application for discussion among members after which it will take a decision.
