Satyam Infoway set for cable TV foray
Nandu:
Satyam Infoway just started service in TVM the other day, did your brother sign up?
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Vinson Kurian
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Nov. 11
SATYAM Infoway, the country's largest private Internet service provider, proposes to make the earliest possible foray into the cable television business as an extension of its Internet services.
Disclosing this to Business Line, Mr. Pradeep Lakshmanan, Vice-President, Internet Sales, Satyam Infoway, said the company was already talking to a number of cable operators with a view to tying up. Trials had been conducted in Calcutta and Jamshedpur and the results had been encouraging, he said. There are a number of glitches though _ such as availability of requisite bandwidth _ that need to be overcome before clinching the deal.
It may be recalled that Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has been talking to a number of cable operators in Mumbai to offer data on cable. In Bangalore, Siticable has already started providing Net access through cable. Satyam does not want to be left out from the emerging business opportunity and proposes to announce its entry latest by January 2000, according to Mr. Lakshmanan.
The January 2000 schedule has another significance for Satyam _ it is expecting to have its own gateway, a Rs. 50-crore project, up and going by then. "Bandwidth is the greatest problem that we are faced with. We are dependent on Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) for our bandwidth needs as of now. If the gateway that we are setting up gets commissioned by January, as we expect it should, we will be able to move faster with the proposed cable business," Mr. Lakshmanan said.
Satyam is also planning to embrace the DSL broadband technology as soon as it is made available in the country. As of today, the technology is in the earliest stages of implementation even in the US. But the technology is handicapped by distance limitation. One can access the ISP node only if one happens to be within a distance of 18,000 feet. Even this is dependent on the bandwidth available. "Unless and until we get our own gateway commissioned on schedule and have the requisite bandwidth at our disposal, we cannot hope to take the headlong plunge into emerging areas of business," said to Mr. Lakshmanan.
The next major initiative from Satyam would be cyber cafes. The company already has plans in place for a big launch in Bangalore and Chennai, for starters. After developing a viable business model, Satyam proposes to go to every centre where it has a point of presence. "There's nothing that Satyam will leave out trying in the fast evolving Internet business, and this applies to voice-over-Internet as well, once it is allowed," Mr. Lakshmanan said.
Satyam recently launched a new Web site, seekandsource.com , intended for corporate customers. Registration as a purchaser/seller at this site will be subject to the scrutiny of the business credentials of the aspirant customer by an industrial consultant appointed by Satyam for being certified as approved. The site was formally announced during the India Internet World expo recently in New Delhi but it is only now that the it is getting functional with the first few customers registering in.
Satyam Infoway has also been talking to agencies such as WorldTel (http://www.world-tel.com/ )to explore the possibilities of partaking in the community Internet network that is being rolled out in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, according to Mr. Lakshmanan.
Mr. Lakshmanan was here on the occasion of the formal launch of the ready-to-use Internet connection, SatyamOnline, in Thiruvananthapuram.(BL) |
