Internet Service Providers Association of India
 | |
| Type: | Non-profit |
| Industry: | Internet |
| Founded: | 1998 |
| Founder(s): | Rajeev Arora R Ramaraj Dr. V K Garg Amitabh Singhal Saumendra Mohanty Vishnu Arya Vijay K. Gupta Rajesh Chharia Moin Kagazi |
| Headquarters: | 612- A, Chiranjiv Tower, 43, Nehru Place, New Delhi |
| Country: | India |
| Website: | www.ispai.in |
| Key People | |
| Rajesh Chharia, President Satya N. Gupta, Vice-president | |
The Internet Service Providers Association of India is an organization that represents the interests of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in India by participating and working closely with the Indian government in shaping the telecommunication policies in India as well as with international organizations involved in the growth and development of the Internet, such as ICANN. It was founded in 1998 by several Internet stakeholders in India.[1]
Mission
The main objective of the association is to promote the use of Internet and broadband to everybody in India.[2] It also aimed to achieve the objectives for 2010, such as:
- Establishment of 20 million broadband and 40 million Internet connections
- Generate employment opportunities
- Provide an Internet platform to enhance the country's IT and IT enabled software services and achieve the $80 billion IT development target
- Create a growth oriented and profitable environment for the country's Internet industry
- Coordinate and Partner with national and international organizations regarding the best practices and latest technologies in the industry
Achievements
One of the significant achievements of the Internet Service Providers Association of India is the establishment of the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) to facilitate the neutral exchange of Internet traffic between ISPs in the country.[3] It also initiated policy developments benefiting the ISPs, such as the waiver for interconnect fee, removal of 8 Mbps bandwidth on international gateways, privatization of international gateways using foreign satellites and the provisioning of infrastructure facilities to ISPs, the adoption of a self-regulatory conduct accepted and followed by the members of the association, and many others.[4]
Internet Service Providers Association India and ICANN
In 2006, the association expressed its concern regarding the scarcity of IPv4 name space which might become a hindrance to the growth of internet in India. When ICANN and IANA announced its proposal to allocate sufficient number of IPv6 address space to RIRs for a minimum of 36 months instead of 18 months to support their registration needs, the Internet Service Providers Association of India strongly supported the plan.[5]
Rajesh Chharia, president of Internet Service Providers Association of India recently expressed his support regarding the ICANN Board's approval on the increase of gLTD's extensions during the ICANN Meeting in Singapore. Chharia said that the decision will benefit the entire internet community not just companies as well as regions and cities which will be able to use more relevant domain name extensions.[6]
Some of the Executive Council members of the association are active participants to the activities and meetings of ICANN which include Naresh Ajwani serves as representative of India to ICANN's Address Supporting Organization (ASO) and to the Number Resource Organization (NRO)[7] while Brajesh Jain is also an active participant to ICANN meetings [8] ISOC, APNIC, and APRICOT.