Titan Corp eyes Applogic for acquisition

HTDERABAD: As the government opens up its policies towards the international

long distance services, its time for companies like US based Titan Corporation,

a Telecom major to have its share of the pie. In its bid to foray into the

Indian telecom space the $ 1.3 billion Titan Corporation has set its eyes on

Hyderabad based Applogic Broadband Systems Ltd. and it is going to acquire the

70 people company for a considerable amount.

Sources close to the Hyderabad Company say that the deal is likely to be

finalized within a month. The financial status of the acquisition is likely to

be settled next month.

However, it may be recalled that Applogic launched its wireless broadband

access service- Wavenet in December 2000 and as of now the company is catering

to more than 70 corporate customers in Hyderabad. The company has already

invested more than Rs 7 crore for setting up its infrastructure as a wireless

broadband operator in the state.

"Applogic and Titan have a synergy together and the fact that we have a

large corporate customer base helped us to be chosen for the offer. We have a

staff strength of 70 people and we are going to retain them with us," said,

Venkat Meenavalli, CEO, Applogic. This acquisition would mean greener pastures

for Titan as it is gearing itself up for the ILD as well as Voice over Internet

protocol (VoIP) services and Applogic could provide Titan exactly what they are

looking out in the AP region.

Titan is also likely to brace itself up for the next generation services like

VoIP once the Union government takes a decision over the issue. Which is to be

done by second half of the next fiscal.

Titan broadband another subsidiary of $ 1.3 billion US-based Titan

Corporation is already having its presence in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and

Pune offering fixed broadband wireless access to corporate customers. Titan

intends to increase its presence to cover a total of 10 cities including

Hyderabad and Chennai. It also plans to foray into ILD and VoIP services once

the regulatory framework allows such services for private players.