Asia Online Sets up India Office, Acquires 7TH Australian Co
sg.biz.yahoo.com
Tuesday, March 7 7:37 AM SGT
Asia Online Sets up India Office, Acquires 7TH Australian Co
HONG KONG, March 6 PRNI-HK-AsiaNet - US-registered Internet multinational Asia Online, Ltd has chalked up its 11th and 12th international expansion transactions in less than five months with the opening of an operation on the Indian subcontinent and a seventh key acquisition in Australia.
The India move gives Asia Online access to one of the world's largest potential Internet markets from the nation's capital New Delhi, while the acquisition of Fast Access Network (FAN) on Australia's Gold Coast further strengthens its grip on the quickly developing industry down under.
These follow the acquisitions of six other Internet companies in Australia and one in New Zealand in October last year, as well as majority investments in two Hong Kong and one Malaysian operation in January and February, 2000.
Backed by Softbank, J.P. Morgan, GE Capital and several other major investors, Asia Online, Ltd was setup in early 1999 to build a pan-Asia Pacific network of Internet solutions companies. Its first two acquisitions were of Asia Online sister companies in
Hong Kong and the Philippines from where the holding company took its name.
According to Asia Online CEO Kevin Randolph, each of the new moves plays a key part in the overall strategy of achieving Asia Online's long-term mission of becoming the region's largest and best-equipped supplier of Internet business solutions to people in or with a desire to do business with the Asia Pacific region.
"Though the Indian market is quite small right now, the potential over the next few years is enormous as the country further deregulates its markets. We have reviewed research which predicts India to be the second largest Internet market in Asia behind China by 2003," said Randolph.
Randolph says industry analysts predict that India will support more than 60 million users and 10 million connections within three years. "Those numbers are staggering especially when you start to consider the millions Indians living overseas that do business with their homeland."
"We have said Asia is more than just a geographic area. We have been building a portfolio of products that are aimed at breaking down the barriers between the people in Asia Pacific and those around the world who want to communicate with this region," said Randolph, pointing to a unique product called E-Cmail which allows people without computers to send and receive email over fax machines.
The India operation will be headed by Managing Director Sunil Varma who has had a long relationship with Asia Online, previously as interim CFO for the Hong Kong-based company.
Varma has gained extensive consulting experience over a period of 28 years with Price Waterhouse Management Consultants and the IBM Consulting Group in Africa and throughout Asia. He has worked in both the public and private sectors and has consulted for such organizations as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and other multi-lateral funding agencies.
In Australia, meanwhile, the acquisition of FAN not only helps to complete Asia Online's pan-Australia backbone that is now under construction around the previous acquisitions, but it gives the company access to one of the telecommunications industry's best known experts, David Hughes.
"David is truly a pioneer in this industry. Not only does he have the entrepreneurial spirit that we are always looking for, but he has tremendous international experience and technical knowledge that we can tap into as we build our global network," said Randolph.
FAN itself is a perfect fit for Asia Online as it already boasts a strong business-oriented user base spread widely among six points of presence in Queensland and New South Wales.
The company has developed a strong web-hosting platform, which is a key strategic direction for Asia Online, and now hosts over 400 different web sites including large media groups and international hotels, among others.
According to Hughes he and the other directors of FAN have long harbored ambitious plans to build the company well beyond its current size, but knew they could never do this on their own. "We are impressed with the Asia Online business plan and goals and decided early on that this is something we wanted to be part of," he said.
Asia Online, Ltd
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