IT services exports touch $24 billion
New Delhi: India exported $23.6 billion worth of IT services, BPO and electronic hardware during the first nine months of the current financial year. Software and ITeS exports accounted for more than 90 pc of the overall amount.

Electronic hardware exports grew at a rate of 38.8 pc at $2.1 billion during April-December FY07, compared to $1.5 billion grossed in the corresponding period of the previous year. IT software and IT-enabled services (ITeS) exports, which enjoy a lion's share of high-tech exports registered $21.5 billion during the period, a growth of 28.2 pc over the year-ago period.

In rupee terms, the growth in software and BPO exports was an estimated 30.3 pc during the period in reference. Meanwhile, the growth in hardware exports was an estimated 41.1 pc according to export statistics by the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council. The Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council is an autonomous organisation under the ministry of communications and IT.
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DTH, VSAT operations face block from security agencies
New Delhi: Direct to Home (DTH) and Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) operators may face a block in their operations following objections from security agencies. An open-sky policy, if implemented, will enable both DTH and VSAT operators to directly negotiate and hire bandwidth from foreign satellite operators which is not permitted in India. For now VSAT and DTH operators will have to continue with the existing policy of buying transponders only on Indian satellites, or go through the department of space (DoS), which hires transponder space from abroad and sells it to them.

Security agencies fear that the open sky policy will enable DTH players to offer encrypted signals to specific customers, which cannot be monitored as it would be out of their jurisdiction.

The refusal to open up the skies on the part of the government is expected to further increase competition between the new DTH players - ADAG's Blue Magic, Prasar Bharti's DD Direct, Sun TV's Sun Direct and Bharti Infratel, to acquire the 24 available transponders on Insat 4B and Insat 4CR, slated to be launched in March-April and July-August, 2007, respectively.
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