Tuesday March 6, 2:58 PM

U.S. firm offers Web addresses in nine Indian languages

By Rajiv Sekhri

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Speakers of nine Indian languages can now register Web addresses in their native tongues, the U.S.-based Network Solutions Inc. said on Tuesday after launching the new service.

"The launch will enable people from various parts of India to break through the language barrier and appreciate the power of the Internet," Arthur Chang,
Network Solutions' Asia-Pacific managing director, told a news conference.

Network Solutions merged with the U.S.-based VeriSign Inc. , a firm that sells Web addresses, in June 2000.

Chang said the new service would benefit Indian firms and multinationals looking for brand recognition in Indian languages.

While the service enables companies and individuals to register Web addresses in Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi (Gurumukhi), Tamil and Telugu, some say just having an address in a native language will not fill the digital divide.

"The people who know (how to operate) computers in India have learned that mainly through English. You have to teach people (how to operate) computers in their native language," said Pankaj Jaiswal, managing director of DotCom Services (India) Pvt. Ltd.

While Jaiswal said the idea was "definitely worth it", he added that it might take years to reap benefits.

"Taking a domain name is easy if you have money. But to access it you need to know how to operate the computer and also have content in the language," said Jaiswal, whose firm is a partner of Network Solutions and registers domain names.

The cost will range between $25 and $50 and can be paid in Indian rupees. In addition, to type a Web address in one of the nine Indian languages, users will need a keyboard in that language.

With Network Solutions' and VeriSign's system, the multi-lingual addresses will still be half in English, using the final ".com" or ".org" suffix.

India's National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) welcomed Network Solutions' announcement.

"We are very happy and excited about this," said Dewang Mehta, president of NASSCOM. "We have decided to sign a memorandum of understanding between NASSCOM and Networks Solutions to work together to proliferate Indian local language domain names to every state and nook and corner of the world."

Mehta said he expects nearly 50 million Internet users in India by 2003, adding that half of them will surf the Web in their native tongue.

He said the NASSCOM is taking steps to increase content in Indian languages and is working with the government to improve electricity and bandwidth conditions in villages.

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