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What is Internet?
It is nothing but wired network of many small computer networks around the world. Its purpose is to facilitate the sending of electronic information from network to network worldover. An electronic message or information may get transferred through a dozen or more networks between Mumbai, India and Madison, US. But this transfer of message does not follow a linear path, internet is a multidimensional network. <<<Learn more about the History of the Internet in this video. |
How did Internet come to India?
The Defence department in the US first created the Internet with the purpose of enabling military researchers and academicians to continue their work even in case of a nuclear attack where parts of network could be destroyed. Thus, ruled by none, owned by none, internet was made to be eternal.[i]
The introduction of internet in India was similar to how internet arrived and grew in the US only that India was more than 20 years behind the US in the e-world. Like ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), CSNET (Computer Science Network), NSFNET (National Science Foundation Network) in the US, the government organization in India which initially provided connectivity are - ERNET (Education and Research Network) for research and academic communities, NICNET (National Informatics Centre Network) that provides IT services to government agencies, STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) which provide business incubators for software development companies and VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.) the telecommunication service provider which is government’s monopoly.
Along with UNDP’s (United Nations Development Programme) assistance in 1986, ERNET India’s first Internet network was established. The ERNET’s node in Mumbai – The National Centre for Software Technology in 1989, registered as the .in national top-level domain manager and established an IP connection to UUnet Technologies in the US.[ii]
The academic, medical, business and legal communities were being offered access to the internet via ERNET by Department of Electronics and via NICNET. The hundreds of others with PCs who wanted unrestricted access to internet weren’t given the privilege even though there was no ownership for the internet. In the mid-1990s, a telephone line, a modem and a personal computer was all that was needed to get into the internet. This was true no matter where you resided except in India. In 1995, ERNET like many other countries’ research and academic networks, had a bleak and uncertain future ahead of it with the UNDP funding coming to an end.
The government then started removing one hurdle after another slowly to make access to the internet simpler. India was the fifth largest economy back then and multi-national-companies like Cisco Systems Inc. were investing and working closely with the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) and ERNET to open up the internet to the public in India. The business potential was enormous and mind boggling in case of the internet, electronic mail, home shopping, database access, marketing and advertising, EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) transactions, electronic publishing and file transfer in a country like India because of its growing middle class segment which was the largest in the world.[iii]
Thus in the same year (1995) in August, VSNL was able to introduce public Internet access in India through its Gateway Internet Access Service (GIAS). ERNET and NICNET too received access through VSNL gateways.
The Defence department in the US first created the Internet with the purpose of enabling military researchers and academicians to continue their work even in case of a nuclear attack where parts of network could be destroyed. Thus, ruled by none, owned by none, internet was made to be eternal.[i]
The introduction of internet in India was similar to how internet arrived and grew in the US only that India was more than 20 years behind the US in the e-world. Like ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), CSNET (Computer Science Network), NSFNET (National Science Foundation Network) in the US, the government organization in India which initially provided connectivity are - ERNET (Education and Research Network) for research and academic communities, NICNET (National Informatics Centre Network) that provides IT services to government agencies, STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) which provide business incubators for software development companies and VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.) the telecommunication service provider which is government’s monopoly.
Along with UNDP’s (United Nations Development Programme) assistance in 1986, ERNET India’s first Internet network was established. The ERNET’s node in Mumbai – The National Centre for Software Technology in 1989, registered as the .in national top-level domain manager and established an IP connection to UUnet Technologies in the US.[ii]
The academic, medical, business and legal communities were being offered access to the internet via ERNET by Department of Electronics and via NICNET. The hundreds of others with PCs who wanted unrestricted access to internet weren’t given the privilege even though there was no ownership for the internet. In the mid-1990s, a telephone line, a modem and a personal computer was all that was needed to get into the internet. This was true no matter where you resided except in India. In 1995, ERNET like many other countries’ research and academic networks, had a bleak and uncertain future ahead of it with the UNDP funding coming to an end.
The government then started removing one hurdle after another slowly to make access to the internet simpler. India was the fifth largest economy back then and multi-national-companies like Cisco Systems Inc. were investing and working closely with the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) and ERNET to open up the internet to the public in India. The business potential was enormous and mind boggling in case of the internet, electronic mail, home shopping, database access, marketing and advertising, EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) transactions, electronic publishing and file transfer in a country like India because of its growing middle class segment which was the largest in the world.[iii]
Thus in the same year (1995) in August, VSNL was able to introduce public Internet access in India through its Gateway Internet Access Service (GIAS). ERNET and NICNET too received access through VSNL gateways.
Reasons for a Staggered Growth
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Improvements for Better Internet
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Types of Connection Accounts, Pornography, Cybercafé Culture
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