Public sector undertaking · Mumbai

VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited)

The state-owned international telecom carrier that switched on India’s public internet, GIAS, on 15 August 1995.

In Vayam’s reporting

1 story

An empty, dusty telecom room with rows of beige CRT terminals on metal tables, grey equipment racks with coiled cables, and a single box on a side table glowing with a small blue light.

Online before China? The 1995 boast, and the state decisions behind India's data centres

VSNL's Independence Day internet was not first in Asia. What it began was a chain of state choices, from STPI's earth stations to RBI's data rule, that private capital has filled ever since.

Itihas·21 Oct 2026·7 min