New Delhi, Nov. 2 With the Department of Telecom showing no signs of allowing unrestricted Internet telephony, the Internet Service Providers have filed a petition with the Competition Commission of India seeking a direction to the Government on this issue. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had recommended opening up the sector for ISPs.

The ISPs have alleged that the DoT was using its dominant position to block out ISPs from a sector that will not only bring additional revenues to them, but also enable cheaper long-distance calls to consumers. “The Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) is compelled to knock at the door of the Competition Commission of India. We have been advocating for a long time in favour of Internet telephony as it will bring the cost of telecom services lower,” said Mr Rajesh Chharia, President of the association. The CCI is yet to accept the petition.

DoT stance The ISPs have been demanding permission to offer the service for over two years, but the DoT has been blocking it on the ground that it wanted to bring parity between unified access licence holders that pay between 6 and 10 per cent of their income as licence fee and ISPs that pay 6 per cent. The DoT reckons that if unrestricted Net telephony is allowed, then it could be complementary service to the existing mobile and fixed line telephone services, in which case telecom firms could be at a disadvantage compared to an ISP.

Currently, ISPs are allowed to offer Net telephony only for international calls. PC-to-PC calls are allowed on domestic routes. Though unified operators are allowed to offer the service, no one has launched it till now. Therefore, TRAI had suggested allowing ISPs to offer unrestricted Net telephony even for domestic calls in a bid to offer more choice to consumers. Net telephony is expected to be much cheaper than the traditional phone calls because the cost of offering the service for the operator is lower. Also, users can make or receive calls at the same tariff wherever they are as long as they are connected to the Net. Cellular users can also avail themselves of telephone services wherever they are, but have to pay hefty roaming charges.

MOHALI: Let down by the batsmen, India slumped to a 24-run defeat in the fourth One-dayer that not only allowed Australia to level the Australia seven-match cricket series 2-2 but also prolonged the hosts' wait to become the number one ODI team in the world on Monday. Chasing 251, India got off to a flier with Virender Sehwag (30 off 19 balls) looking eager to wrap up the issue and Sachin Tendulkar (40) going great guns.

But their undoing was no less spectacular as the middle and lower order could not forge a single significant partnership and the team folded for 226 in 46.4 overs. Earlier put into bat, Australia stitched together half-centuries from Ponting (52) and White (62) and cameos from Shane Watson (49) and Michael Hussey (40) to reach 250 before wilting in 49.2 overs. India's chase got off to a blazing start with Sehwag displaying the kind of power-hitting on which he has built his career around. The first ball raced to the fence off his blade faster than it had arrived and it was a bad omen for Mitchell Johnson. The hapless birthday boy copped three boundaries in his next over and an encore of the treatment meant the Australian spearhead had hemorrhaged 34 runs in his first three overs before Ponting spared further trauma by withdrawing him from attack.

It was too good to last for long and relief for Australia came soon when Sehwag fell to Doug Bollinger in the seventh over and Virat Kohli (10), replacing Gautam Gambhir, squandered yet another opportunity to impress, leaving India at 78 for two. With Sachin Tendulkar in pursuit of yet another batting milestone - 47 runs separated him from the 17,000 mark when he walked out - and looking in good nick, the crowd had enough to look forward to till an Ashoka de Silva howler spoiled their party. Fluent initially and aware of the imminent milestone as he approached it, Tendulkar was hit on the pad by an innocuous Nathan Hauritz delivery that was missing the leg stump but de Silva raised his dreaded finger to send groans across the chock-a-block stadium.

At 94 for three, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (26) and Yuvraj Singh (12) had a task uncannily similar to the one they had accomplished in the previous match in Delhi but this time their association was nipped in the bud by a Ricky Ponting direct throw that sent back Yuvraj. Dhoni then became Bollinger's third victim, Hauritz castled Suresh Raina (17) and Ravindra Jadeja (7) ran himself out, leaving India gasping at 177 for seven in the 39th over. Down the order Harbhajan Singh's 25-ball 35 - like the series opener in Vadodara - was entertaining but not clinching. Earlier, fluent half-centuries from Ricky Ponting (52) and Cameron White (62) and brisk cameos from Shane Watson (49) and Michael Hussey (40) guided laid the perfect foundation for an imposing total before Australia ran out of steam and wilted in the end. Going strong at 196 for three, Australia came unstuck in the 39th over, fumbling in the batting powerplay, which cost them four wickets earning just 27 runs, before eventually folding for a total that was far less than they would have anticipated.

Ashish Nehra (3-37) was pick of the Indian bowlers - Harbhajan also grabbed a couple of wickets - and he drew first blood in the eighth over when he struck Shaun Marsh (5) low and plumb. Ponting, however, looked in sublime touch. Dhoni unleashed Ishant Sharma, hoping the beanpole pacer would once again torment the Australian captain like he had done in the past but Ponting, not in a no mood to oblige, nonchalantly hit his nemesis over long-on for a neat six, following it with a boundary. The duo had added 64 runs when Dhoni pressed Harbhajan Singh into service and collaborated with the spinner to remove Watson off Harbhajan's first delivery. Ponting didn't allow the setback to bog him down and played with blithe abandon. One swept boundary off Harbhajan brought up his fifty but Ravindra Jadeja's direct throw cut short his stay, much to Dhoni's relief. Back in the dressing room, Ponting, however, had the satisfaction of watching Hussey and White continuing the good work with some sensible cricket during their 73-run stand.

White smote Yuvraj over mid-wicket for a six before inflicting some damage on Ishan't bowling figure. In-form Hussey, on his part, negotiated the spinners with aplomb and once stepped out to hit Yuvraj over the ropes. Hussey was looking good for his fifty when he holed out to Ishant, trying to hit Yuvraj out of the ground. Australia lost White just after they had taken the batting powerplay and with Johnson doing precious nothing to enhance his all-rounder claim, Australia barely managed to reach the 250-mark.

MUMBAI: The rupee opened slightly weaker on Tuesday tracking losses in some regional stock markets but losses in the dollar versus major units prevented a further slide.

At 9:04 am the partially convertible rupee was at 47.01/02 per dollar, weaker than its Friday's close of 46.96/97. The market was closed on Monday for a local holiday.

Portfolio flows into local shares are a key driver of the rupee. Foreigners have bought more than $14 billion of local equities so far this year, after being sellers of more than $13 billion in 2008. At 0334 GMT, the MSCI index of Asian stocks ex-Japan was trading down 0.3%, while the Nifty India stock futures traded in Singapore were down 0.7%, both pointing to a lower open in the domestic market.

The dollar and the yen eased on Tuesday, while the Australian dollar extended gains ahead of a central bank meeting where interest rates are widely expected to be lifted by a quarter of a percentage point. The dollar index, a gauge of the US unit's performance versus six majors, was down 0.2%.

SINGAPORE: Gold rose towards last month's record on Tuesday as the dollar slipped ahead of a US interest rate decision, and on news the IMF had completed half of a planned gold sale. The International Monetary Fund said on Monday it sold 200 tonnes of gold to the Reserve Bank of India for $6.8 billion, quietly executing half of a long-planned bullion sale that had threatened to slow gold's rally.

Spot gold was quoted at $1,064.70 an ounce at 0304 GMT, up $5.55 from New York's notional close. It hit a near two-week high of $1,066.15, within sight of a lifetime high of $1,070.40 struck on October 14. "The fact that they've sold the gold to India would suggest there's going to be fewer official sales by the IMF on the market. So that might be a positive theme for the gold price," said David Moore, commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The IMF sale is part of an agreement struck earlier this year among IMF member countries to sell 403.3 tonnes of the body's gold stocks to diversify the Fund's sources of income and to increase low-cost lending to poor countries.

US gold futures for December delivery added $11.6 an ounce at $1,065.60 on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, within sight of last month's record of $1,072 an ounce. "We used to think it was all dollar related but gold seems to behaving by itself, helped by a couple of encouraging reports on central bank activity," said Commodity Broking Services' chief executive Jonathan Barratt. "I think if it takes out that $1,070 to $1,071 range then I am quite happy to add positions," he added.

The US dollar and the yen edged down in thin trade on Tuesday ahead of a series of central bank meetings on interest rates. The euro edged up to $1.4775, having gained 0.35% on Monday. The US Federal Reserve starts its two-day meeting on Tuesday and, while it is expected to keep rates unchanged, there is speculation that it might drop or alter its pledge to keep rates low for an "extended period". Persistent weakness in the dollar had spurred fund buying of gold, which sent cash and futures to record highs last month. Gold is seen as a hedge against both inflation and a depreciating dollar. The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at 1,103.519 tonnes as of November 2, unchanged from the previous business day.