**OT** NeST to wire Kerala in a Rs 100crore WAN project
Mini K Joseph
BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 21: The Kochi-based NeST Group of Companies is in the process of wiring up the entire state of Kerala using wide area network (WAN) with an investment of over Rs 100 crore, according to the group's managing director N Jehangir. The state government has promised financial support to the project from the second phase onwards. Jehangir told The Financial Express that the first phase of the Kerala on-line (KOL) project, including graphics and planning, was expected to be over in two months. In the second phase, NeST would wire the entire state with fibre optic cables while the third phase would be completed within a year, he said.
To this end, the company has recently entered into a joint venture with United Telecom, the firm that assisted Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to get wired. Says Jehangir: "Once we are through with the wiring exercise, the state government will provide financial and moral support for the project." The funds were currently being sourced from NeST's internal accruals besides loans from Kerala State Industrial Development Bank and a couple of private banks. He said,"Once the infrastructure in place, we will be able to hook all the banks in the state on to the system." The state has over 600 banks plus a large number of co-operative banks at the state, district and rural level. Jahangir said a large number of non-resident Indians belonging to the state had evinced interest in part-funding the project. The company was currently in the conceptual stage of setting up a fund involving NRIs.
According to the company's vice president (corporate), Sathish Kumar, KOL would mainly target banks, homes, educational institutions and the tourism industry. "We are trying to sell the idea to the government as KOL is expected to be instrumental in bringing about a technology revolution in the state. The network will also create a large number of employment opportunities," he said. In this regard, the company already held talks with various departments of the government.
Kumar said NeST had a leased 8mb line from DoT and this would be expanded to 34mb later while at the completion of the project, it would be a mix of both DoT and NeST's own cables.
NeST specialises in leading-edge technologies in communication, IT, fibre optics, microwave and wireless. The company has 15 manufacturing units in five locations and has a market presence in USA, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific.
-Financial Express |
