Among the many benefits of Internet is the possibility of voice transfer or Internet telephony. But then in India this was termed illegal and not permitted by Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL). VSNL is the monopoly overseas communication provider and was, until recently,  the monopoly Internet service provider.

Not anymore, it would seem. The government is reviewing its position on this and is soon expected to allow this technology soon.

Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Member of Planning Commission said this at a seminar on e-commerce organised in New Delhi by Confederation of Indian Industry, Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC) and Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Services(IL&FS). He said that the policies should allow for competition that would ultimately benefit the consumer.

Allowing Internet telephony was a serious threat to VSNL's revenue and being a monopoly public sector unit, bringing about a ban on internet telephony  was not too difficult. Even the ISP policy and the Telecom policy have termed Internet telephony illegal.

The ban extended to blocking websites that provided this software, like net2phone.com. Despite this smart operators around the country found a way round it and were offering long distance calls at fraction of the VSNL rates.