Satyam Infoway Q3 net loss narrows, revenue jumps

MUMBAI: Satyam Infoway, a leading private Indian Internet service provider,

on Wednesday reported its October-December net loss halved to $8.2 million from

$17.8 a year ago as revenue rose 34 per cent.

The Chennai-based company, which also provides corporate Internet and

consulting services and operates a portal www.sify.com

, said its cash loss (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and

amortisation) narrowed 59 per cent to $3.9 million.

"This is the fourth successive quarter of reduction in cash losses and

the first time Sify is able to recover all its cash costs excluding bandwidth

costs," the company said in a statement. R. Ramaraj, Satyam Infoway's

managing director, said the results showed the company was headed in the right

direction.

Corporate services contributed 49 per cent of total revenue and retail

Internet access 34 per cent. The revenue figures does not include the company's

eConsulting and software services division which is to be sold to parent Satyam

Computer Services, the statement said.

Nasdaq-listed Satyam Infoway plans to sell the division for $6.9 million to

Satyam Computer Services which holds a 52.5 per cent stake in it.

Satyam Infoway's retail subscriber base increased to 600,000 by the end of

December from 550,000 at the end of the preceding quarter. The statement said

the company was able to retain market share despite increasing access prices.

After the results, its American Depositary Receipts were up 6.48 per cent at

$2.3 at the Nasdaq exchange in early trade on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq

composite index was down 1.31 per cent.

(C) Reuters Limited.