Applogic to foray into VoIP space

HYDERABAD: Applogic, a Hyderabad based broadband access provider, is all set
to foray into the voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) space. It has tied up with
ITXC, a US based Internet telephony carrier, for accessing 100 million minutes
of VoIP. Initially, the company plans to provide VoIP services in five cities -
Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, and New Delhi. "At present, our
teledensity is about 2.5 per cent and an initiative like this would go a long
way in increasing that. We are planning to make all the cyber cafes as telephone
booths in the future. We would be ready to provide these services by the end of
April, 2001," said Applogic Broadband Systems CEO and managing director
Venkat S Meenavalli.

Applogic has also tied up with Vocal Tech, a VoIP products developer from
Israel, to provide VoIP products. The company, which launched its broadband
services in December 2000, has a subscriber base of 35 customers. It is charging
Rs 6 lakh a year for an 1 MB connection from its customers. The company has
already spent Rs 8 crore in setting up the infrastructure and expects to
generate around $2 million from each city in the coming year of its operation.