Srinagar, July 15: Centre government decision to increase the internet surfing costs has not gone well with web users in the Valley like their counterparts elsewhere in India.
 According to the order internet surfers will have to pay 7 per cent more with the increase in revenue share imposed on Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
 The decision has evoked wide criticism in the Valley with internet users terming it as ‘uncalled for’ and ‘unfortunate’.
 The net users as well as the Valley-based business community have demanded immediate rollback of the hike.
 “It is very unfortunate that surfing charges have been increased. It will create inconvenience to the users, "Muhammad Abrar, who runs a software development centre, here said.
 “My whole business is depended on internet service, but with the hike will have a negative impact on our overall profit,” he said, adding Kashmir Information Technology sector is lagging behind and the decision will further hamper the spirit of investors in the sector.
 “With increase in internet charges, the investors will shy away from investing in the IT sector, as it will overburden the investors because of high internet charges, which is basic component for IT sector,” Abrar said.
 The student community here also expressed resentment against the decision.
 “Internet has become part of our life and our education curriculum. The hike in internet charges will definitely overburden us and will also discourage students from using internet services for their studies,” Abid Shafi, a Kashmir University student said.
 The netizens said that increase will over burden the budget of aam aadmi. “Internet service in this part of the world was already very expensive, now centre government has further enhanced the internet usage charges, it will definitely put extra burden on the pockets of local population,” Inam ul Haq said.
 According to the experts the move also goes against the key objective of the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012 which envisages providing of “affordable and reliable broadband-on-demand by 2015 and achieving of 175 million broadband connections by 2017 and 600 million by 2020.”
 The increase neither makes Internet services affordable nor increases reliability, they said.
 Meanwhile, the decision of the centre government has been challenged by the stakeholders in the court of the law.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 15 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 15 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST