Chennai:

“We will soon be rolling out our Net-over-cable services in Hyderabad and Delhi,” says P Kailasam, head, Internet-over-cable operations, Siti Cable Network. Towards this end, the company is investing heavily in laying a hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) cable backbone.

Initially, Zee Interactive Multimedia did the cable ISP operation. A financial restructuring saw the company getting merged with Siti Cable, Asia’s largest cable network, reaching 5.5 million households in 43 cities.

“We are the only cable Internet service provider (ISP) to have our own international gateway,” says a beaming Kailasam. Siti Cable holds a category ‘A’ Internet service provider (ISP) licence-holder.

Like other cable ISP officials, Kailasam, too, declines to talk financial numbers. “Our strengths are many: owning our own gateways, HFC network in major cities, market leadership in Karnataka and management expertise.”

Excerpts from an interview with Kailasam:

What is your subscriber base in Bangalore? What are your revenue model and the average revenue per subscriber (individual / corporates)?
We have around 7,500 subscribers and the average revenue per subscriber is Rs 1,000 per month. Our revenue stream is from cable access subscription, sale of bandwidth and associated services.

What is the market size for broadband connectivity in India? What is the trend in the industry you see now, at the retail end?
The expected market size for broadband connectivity in India is around 3 lakh by 2003. In Karnataka the market size is expected to go up to 40,000 by next year. The market trend is a shift in favour of broadband Net access.

The Net-over-cable industry is attracting more players now. Many small neighbourhood ISPs are providing connectivity using local area network (LAN) methodology. Similarly, Satyam Infoway, Dishnet DSL, Bharti Telenet and Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) are offering broadband at competitive rates. Your comments.
Many alternatives are available to access the net. The LAN methodology is also a good option. We believe that cable-over-Internet will still offer value for money in terms of cost as well as bandwidth carrying capability. Our schemes are very competitive and advantageous for the value we offer. We do not comment on competition.

Do you operate through franchisees?
The existing business dynamics does not compel going in for franchisees. However, we are in the process of evaluating our business model in order to establish franchisees in case of business requirements / demands.

What will be the impact of the government’s move to open up the wi-fi spectrum? Any plans to get into wireless Internet?
We see this as beneficial to the customer and welcome the same. We are already offering such solutions to our customers who want it by integrating with other wi-fi service providers.

From whom do you source bandwidth and what is your total requirement?
Our total bandwidth requirement is 22 Mbps and we source from New Skies Satellites, BV, Netherlands. The bandwidth price has remained stable for some time now. Hopefully they will reduce in the future.