Midas dials domestic telephone players

Chennai: With several private players entering the basic telephony sector, Midas Communication Technologies (MCT) is in talks with them to sell its corDECT wireless in the local loop (WLL) systems.

Service providers in this field generally look at the past performance and whether the technology is future-proof, apart from the costs, before deciding on a technology. Our corDECT WLL systems qualifies in all the above criteria, and in two to three months booking of orders will start, says MCT director Shirish B Purohit.

What makes the future for corDECT technology brighter here in India is the tightening of screws by the department of telecommunications (DoT) on the private basic players to fulfil their village phone commitments. Recently DoT had threatened to cancel the licenses of companies who do not stick to their licensing commitments.

Our systems are viable even for towns and villages with a population of 200 to 300, claims Purohit. He, however, refuses to divulge further on his plans to target the domestic private basic players.

Currently Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (25,000 lines) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (33,000) are the major domestic users of corDECT WLL technology. The other users are HFCL (7,000), Shyam Telecom (7,000) and n-Logue (1,000). Developed by the TeNet group of IIT-Madras, the corDECT WLL technology is owned by MCT.

MCT has licensed out the production to four players in India (HFCL, Shyam Telecom, Crompton Greaves, ITI and ECIL) and one each in Singapore and Tunisia. The company gets royalty from its licensees. In other markets MCT implements the contract after sourcing the equipment from one of the six licensees and earns better revenues.

Apart from the cost factor, one of the advantages of the corDECT technology is the facility of accessing the net and making calls at the same time. Purohit says this service is well received in Delhi (offered by MTNL) and Rajasthan (Shyam Telecom).

As per our plans and hopes, India will have at least half a million corDECT WLL lines next year. A major chunk of the revenues will go for our licensees, as we will get only the royalty, he says.

About the market response for optiMA Fibre Access Network System that was soft launched, Purohit hopes to sell around 300 systems. optiMA is well received in Rajasthan and it is 30-per cent cost effective than imported systems.

On the other hand corDECT WLL systems are moving well in countries like Egypt, South Africa and South America. CIS countries, including Russia, are another emerging market for the company. Overseas, there are around 4 lakh lines working, says Purohit. Abroad there are city-wise telephone service providers, who provide connectivity up to 500 subscribers - there it is like cable TV business. As a result the potential market for corDECT WLL is higher than in India, where only big players are allowed.

The 9/11 events had its impact on MCTs exports to some extent. After the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, the currency value in an African country fell by 25 per cent, and one of our clients had to rework his business plans. As a result the number of lines to be sourced came down drastically, says Purohit.