NEW DELHI, December 20: The new Internet Policy which was expected to usher in a new era with the entry of private Internet service providers (ISPs) is now likely to be delayed by at least three to four months as a result of the elections being announced.The policy which was expected to be ready by early next year will now have to wait as officials in the Department of Telecommunications and the Department of Electronics (DoE) debate on whether taking any decisions in this regard would upset the model code of conduct.While the Cabinet had cleared the broad Internet Policy, the details had to be worked out by an inter-ministerial "Implementation Committee" headed by the secretary DoT with other members from the DoE, Railways and Power ministry were supposed to hold meetings to decide issues of connectivity and provision of international gateways.However, sources point out that not much has been achieved by this interministerial group so far and ISPs and customers would have to wait awhile before posing any competition to Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), the sole internet service provider today.
