India’s urgent need for Internet connectivity for a larger part of the population means big opportunities for companies, something in which Videocon Telecom is keen to invest in order to offer its services all across the country. It is said to have put aside a budget of nearly 340 crores in order to deliver the same in 6 to 7 circles in the nation.
Videocon plans to use the money to set up the necessary infrastructure over the next year or so. The company’s director and CEO, Arvind Bali, has told The Hindu Business Line that there could not have been a better time to get into the fray. His sentiments seem to be mirrored quite precisely in the recent moves Google and Microsoft have made to gain entry into the lucrative Internet services space in India.
Connect Broadband which serves as Videocon’s Internet service provider (ISP) arm, has managed to wangle a Unified License – ISP (Category-A) for itself. This allows the company to extend its offerings all over these shores. The Indian company was previously seen releasing its Fiber To The Endpoint (FTTX services) in the state of Punjab. It has decided to roll out the same in other parts of the country too.
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The investment amount of 340 crores will pay for the ISP license, network deployment, infrastructure for hotspots and much more. The existing GSM mobility circles in which Videocon has licenses will see the launch of its Internet services. These cover Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. After this, the company will step into other metros and Tier-I cities too.
Videcon has revealed plans to invest in a wide range of businesses including but not restricted to, point-to-point leased circuits, hosted and cloud services, point-to-point leased circuits and so on.