Chronology of Internet in India

internet in indiaPre-1995: ERNet and NICNet set up first Internet hubs with limited connectivity.
1995: The Gateway Internet Access Service (GIAS) launched by Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited in four Indian cities.
1996: Three important newspapers — The Times of India, The Hindu and The Indian Express — set up websites; Rediff.com launched.
1997: Tamil newspaper Dinamani sets up website; Hotmail creator Sabeer Bhatia sells Hotmail to Microsoft for $400 million.
1998: Private ISPs allowed to set up Internet infrastructure.
1999: News links aggregator Samachar.com sold for Rs 419 crore; Hindi portal Webdunia launched.
2000: Parliament passes Information Technology Act 2000; foreign portals like Yahoo & MSN set up Indian sites.
2001: Subscription sites set up by thenewspapertoday.com and Naidunia.com; Times of India group launches 8888 mobile service; India Today group launches 2424 mobile service.
2002: Malayalamvarikha.com, the website of weekly Malayalam magazine, launches paid site.
2003: AirDeccan launches India’s first online air ticketing site; National Internet Exchange of India (NiXI)
2004: BSNL introduces broadband; E-Bay buys Baazee.com; Monster.com buys Jobsahead.com.
2005: Social networking sites like Orkut make their presence felt; NiXi asked to manage .IN registry
2007: Major media websites switch to tab-based design arrives.
2008: The Information Technology Act, 2000 amended; Nixi sets up parallel IPv6 Exchange Routers in Mumbai and Delhi
2009: The Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 comes into force
2010: 3G spectrum auctioned to telecom players after two-year-long process.
2012: Arrest of two Mumbai girls over Facebook postings sparks outrage across India
2013: India launches National Internet Registry under the name of Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN)

Request: Some milestones in the evolution of Internet in India may have been missed in this chronology. Please add them in the Comments section.

Part I: The first ten years of Internet in India
Part II: The Web changes lanes in India
Part III: Web 2.0 rises in India, so does mobile

About Sunil Saxena 334 Articles
Sunil Saxena is an award winning media professional with over four decades of experience in New Media, Social Media, Mobile Journalism, Print Journalism, Media Education and Research.

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