VoIP to be available throughout India

India's largest internet service provider, BSNL, has committed to rolling out a VoIP service across the whole of the south Asian country.

Despite setting an initial deadline of December 28th for IP telephony groups to submit proposals for the project, the firm is still reported to be welcoming advances due to the overwhelming level of interest.

Among the companies that have approach BSNL - four of whom will ultimately be selected to work on the project - are Sterlite Optical, Aksh Optifibre, Indus Online and Smart Broadband.

India's sole VoIP provider is currently MTNL and its limited scope means that it is at present only able to offer the service to users in Mumbai and New Delhi.

Under the new initiative, however, state-owned BSNL plans to divide the country into two zones - north-west and south-east - each of which will then be governed by two franchised VoIP operators.

The VoIP industry has enjoyed phenomenal growth in recent months, with industry analysts TeleGeography reporting that US demand for the technology almost doubled year-on-year in the second quarter of 2007.