Wipro to enter home Internet services

BANGALORE: Wipro Corporation has decided to enter the home Internet services market early next year through a joint venture (JV) with Royal Dutch Telecom (KPN). Wipro Net, the JV of Wipro Corporation and Dutch telecom operator Royal Dutch Telecom, which currently provides its corporate clients Internet-based services, will be entering the home segment early next year, CEO Anand Talwai said.

"We have already test-marketed consumer Internet services in select cities and will formally launch them early next year," Mr. Talwai said. The company is aiming to be among the top three Internet service providers (ISPs) by banking upon its connectivity to KPN's international Internet protocol (IP) network, he said. "Wipro Net has connectivity to KPN's international IP network which will enable the venture to offer superior quality services to both corporate and home customers," Talwai said. 

Wipro Infotech obtained the national ISP license in December 1998, and Wipro Net was spun off as an Internet services arm of the parent company in April this year. On the company's expansion and growth plans, he said Wipro Net was planning to go public within the next three years. At present, Wipro Net has 500 corporate customers, and manages a nationwide fault-tolerant network through communication hubs in eight major cities. "The company is the first ISP in the country to have successfully integrated its nationwide IP network with the DoTs' I-net network, and this integration extends the reach of our network," Mr. Talwai claimed. Earlier this month, Wipro Corporation said it was eyeing acquisitions of software companies both in India and abroad, and planning an American Depository Receipt (ADR) issue to fund these activities as part of major expansion plans for its e-commerce business. 

The ADR will be floated within the next 12 months, Wipro Technologies president and CEO Vivek Paul said, and added that plans were on for a Nasdaq listing. "We have decided to acquire companies and related businesses both in India and abroad to expand our e-commerce business," Mr. Paul said. "The expansion plan has been divided into four phases, which we hope to complete within the next 12 months," he said.