Internet Service Provider (ISP) License

The procedure of getting an ISP license in India is as follows –

Step – 1 – In the first step, you have to check the eligibility. To obtain an ISP license, your company should be registered under the companies act, 1956. In case your company is not registered, visit the registrar of companies’ website to know how to register a company.

Step – 2 – In the next step, you have to decide which category of ISP license you will choose for your registered company. There are three categories of ISP licenses –

1. Class A (National area)
2. Class B (Telecom circle/Metro area)
3. Class C (Secondary switching area)

The cost of ISP license is quite high. Therefore, you must select your license as per your needs.

Step – 3 – After selecting the license as per your need, you need to focus on the cost & budgeting details of the license. Cost for each category of ISP license is mentioned in a tabular form below –

Service	Minimum equity	Minimum net worth	Entry fee (Rs.)	Performance BG (Rs.)	Financial BG (Rs.)	Application processing fee (Rs.)	Total capital required (Rs.)
Class A (National area)	Nil	Nil	30 Lakh	2 Crore	10 Lakh	50 Thousand	2,40,50,000
Class B (Telecom circle/ Metro area)	Nil	Nil	2 Lakh	10 lakh	1 Lakh	15 Thousand	13,15,000
Class C (Secondary switching area)	Nil	Nil	20 Thousand	50 Thousand	10 Thousand	10 Thousand	90,000

The total capital required for a Class A license is Rs.24050000

The total capital required for Class B license is Rs.1315000

The total capital required for Class C License is Rs.90000

From the above table, it is clearly understood that capital required for Class A is very high as compared to Class B & C.

In case you apply for class C ISP license, you don’t required more than 3-4 Lakh rupees depending upon the lawyer or ISP consultant fees.

After selecting the category of the ISP license from the above table, it is important for you to know how the application process will go forward.

Step – 4 – In the fourth step, you have to do the following in order to obtain ISP license –

1. Fill the application form
2. A non-refundable fee of Rs.15000 must be paid by the applicant either by demand draft or by pay order from any schedule bank payable in the name of “PAY AND ACCOUNTS OFFICER (HQ), SANCHAR BHAWAN, NEW DELHI” along with the application form.
3. Submit all required official documents

Step – 5 – After submitting your application form along with the fees and required documents, telecom department will review your application and respond to you within 60 days. In case, there is any issue with your application, response from the telecom department may get delayed. If there is no problem found in your application, department of telecom will issue a “letter of intent” in your favour. However, there are chances that your application may get rejected or delayed due to non-compliance in the following areas –

1. Legal
2. Hardware
3. Security
4. Commercial
5. Contractual

However, Human errors may also become the reason for delay in application sometimes. For ex – incomplete form submission.

Before submitting your application form, it is advisable that you must review your application from ISP consultant or lawyer to obtain ISP authorization under unified license.

Step – 6 – After taking advice from an ISP consultant or lawyer, you can easily submit the application form. In case there is no issue find in your application, Department of telecom will issue a “letter of intent” in your favour. After issuing of the letter, you need to submit the following –

1. You need to submit the one-time fee as per the table shown above along with the bank guarantee. The total fee for category A license is Rs.24050000, category B license is Rs.1315000 and category C is Rs.90000.
2. In addition to one-time fee, you need to submit a signed license agreement with the department of telecom. You need to submit the documents mentioned on the letter of intent and other required documents too (if any)
3. Be aware that the one time entry fees you will pay in order to get ISP license is non-refundable and will not be returned back in any circumstances.

Kindly note that once the letter of intent is issued by the telecom department, you have to fulfill all the requirements mentioned in the letter of intent within a specific period.

Step - 7 – After reviewing and approving the application, ISP license will be issued under unified license to your company for a period of 20 years. Department of telecom will contact you directly or via e-mail to inform that whether you have been issued the ISP license.