Satyam Infoway earmarks Rs 100 cr. for services expansion

BANGALORE, August 17: To substantially improve its services and provide a better

surfing experience with its own international gateway, Satyam Infoway, India's first

private ISP, plans to invest Rs 100 crore in the next 12 months. Satyam has already

applied to the Department of Telecom (DoT) for permission to set up its own international

gateway. Currently, Satyam, like other ISPs, is using the gateway of Videsh Sanchar Nigam

Limited (VSNL). While allowing the entry of private ISPs last year, the government has

permitted them to set up their own international gateways, ending the monopoly of VSNL.

Satyam has earmarked Rs 40-50 crore for setting up distributed gateways across the

country. Other expansion plans include setting up `Internet access points' across the

country, offering commerce service in Internet through a secured payment network, increase

digital connectivity and bandwidth and portal service in satyamonline.com. To fund this

expansion, the company has recently got the government approval to issue American

Depositary Receipts (ADRs). "It is just a matter of time when we raise the funds

through the ADRs," said Satyam Infoway Managing Director R. Ramaraj. In the meantime,

Sterling Commerce sanctioned funds of US $ 5 million is expected very soon. The

Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) has contributed another US $ 5 million for the

project. The company has invested over Rs 70 crore over a period of three years.

Mr. Ramaraj said, "The guidelines for setting up gateways have already been

released. The DoT is the nodal agency and offers securities clearance for the applicants.

The guidelines are also made available in the DoT Website. They have also confirmed more

than a handful of applicants. We are planning to set up distributed gateways across the

country, to offer better services in terms of connectivity to our subscribers.

Consolidating the number of cities we extend our services to, multiple gateways would be

set." The company currently covers about 21 cities in India and plans to extend it to

40 by the end of the current fiscal. Bharti is the other ISP to have applied for the

distributed gateway along with Satyam.

With distributed gateways, the company also gets the opportunity to offer uninterrupted

connectivity to run mission critical applications in the Internet such as electronic

commerce. "E-Commerce is a much abused word today. Different people use it for

different purposes. We have termed the concept as `enabling business over a wire',"

added Ramaraj. Apart from offering e-commerce consultancy, Satyam Infoway also offers

commerce service solutions of paying through the Internet. This is made possible by

Transact, an e-commerce software package from US based Open Market. The concept has been

beta tested by the company on Color Plus, Mangoes Selling, etc. While the payment can

currently be made only by credit cards, the system is already upgraded to accept payments

through smart cards and debit cards. Through a secured payment network, the merchandiser

will not be able to access the credit card numbers of the customer. The whole transaction

will be through a transcripted network linked directly to the bank.

Along with offering e-commerce solutions, Satyam Infoway also plans to create awareness

among the public of the benefits of the concept. In this regard, the company is planning

to set up `Internet access points' across the country. The company proposes to extend its

services through these points to people without an access of either a PC or Internet.

About 40 such centers are planned, out of which about eight would be set up in Chennai. It

is expected to start its operations from December with pricing on the value added services

instead of plain browsing.

Satyam Infoway is digitally connected to every exchange of the 21 cities. Wallet watch

and classifieds are the concepts to be pushed by the company during the coming months. It

expects a revenue of Rs 60 to 70 crore for the financial year 1999-2000, with the first

quarter registering Rs 11 crore of business.