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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (4218)	5/6/1999 8:22:00 AM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

Indian ISP Price war led by Dishnet. Thursday, May 6, 1999 INTERNET Indian ISP price wars led by Dishnet NEWSBYTES (Courtesy:NewsBytes via SCMP) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Indian price wars are not confined to fast moving consumer goods alone - they have spilled over to the Internet service provider (ISP) market. Dishnet, an enterprise of the Sterling Group of Companies, has set off a downward spiral by launching its private Internet service under the brand name ETH. Operational in Pune and Chennai, Dishnet brings to its subscribers a whole range of comprehensive Internet services through the Microsoft Commercial Internet Suite (MCIS 2.0). These encompass not only basic services such as e-mail, Web browsing, news and chat, but also include advanced services such as Web hosting, e-commerce, interactive gaming, people-to-people interactions, audio and video streaming, and multimedia services. Dishnet is aiming its services to students, home users, small businesses, as well as institutions and corporations. Pune is already reaping the competitive advantages of having four ISPs, including the state-owned VSNL. Dishnet has marked its entry with an "early bird" offer of Rs 995 (HK$180) for 100 hours, a free CD worth Rs 8,000 and no registration fee. Ajit P. Pradhan, head engineering and operations, Dishnet, says, "The name 'Dishnet' envisions the Internet of tomorrow, which will be delivered through the convergence of terrestrial telecom networks and emerging satellite broadcasting and communication networks." The company's presence is evident in its growth plans which include installation of a multi-tier Internet network covering eight major cities starting with Pune and Chennai, followed by Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Calcutta under Tier One, 44 cities having a population of over a million under Tier Two, and the remaining towns under Tier Three. Mr Pradhan says, "In addition to the existing DOT networks, Dishnet will be pioneering other access technologies such as hybrid fiber coaxial cable networks in a tie up with Silicon Mountains in Pune. The technology is currently undergoing tests and will be ready for deployment shortly. This experiment will make available multimedia services on the Internet, and Dishnet will pioneer such advanced technologies in India." Meanwhile, Zee Telefilms' SitiCable, a national ISP license holder, is engaged in talks with Tata Teleservices and Bharti Telenet, is planning to have common networks in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to bring about a convergence of telecom, cable TV, and Internet services. SitiCable wants to lend its cable TV network for telecom use and use the fiber optic lines of the basic telecom operators for its cable TV, telephony and Internet services. Siti Cable is the largest multisystem CATV network operator in the country with over 80 Siti Cable networks and a total subscriber base of 19 million viewers in New Delhi and Mumbai. According to Subhash Chandra, SitiCable chairman, "Siti Cable will be providing Internet services through the cable network to the subscribers over the next five years." With a huge subscriber base in the country and a low PC penetration, the company expects television to be the medium for surfing the Internet.