"Ban jao crorepati" , Dishnet tells cable operators

"Ban jao crorepati", is what national Internet service provider, Dishnet DSL Limited, is telling cable TV operators. The company, which rolled out its digital subscriber line (DSL) sometime ago, is exhorting cable TV operators, in the city of Chennai, to become Dishnet Telecom Operators.

Several companies are assiduously wooing the ubiquitous cable operator in the city of Chennai. After Mumbai-based Hathway Cable & Datacom Private Ltd and Chennai-based Sun Cable Vision (SCV), Cyberwave Internet Solutions Ltd., the latest one to woo them is Dishnet. However, unlike others, Dishnet is offering them extremely attractive incentives that go up as high as Rs. 1 crore, apart from handsome commissions and service charges.

Designated as Dishnet Telecom Operator, a cable operator is promised Rs. 1 crore as an incentive, if he enrolls 1,000 fully paid subscribers from one digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM).

If he cannot, there is nothing to worry about. An operator who enrolls 250 full paid connects will be sent on a European tour and those operators who bring in minimum of 100 DSL subscribers will be given a Santro car.

That aside, Dishnet offers a commission of Rs.4,496 per home connection and Rs 7,425 per business connection. In addition, Dishnet pays the operators a service charge of 15 per cent on monthly collections made them.

All this, and the promise of technical, marketing, promotional support to cable operators, helps Dishnet woo the operators by showing a first year return of a whopping 400 per cent on an investment of Rs 2 lakh- the cost of a DSLAM.

In return for all this, Dishnet expects the cable operator to provide 100 square feet of air-conditioned space for installing the DSLAM, use his existing cable poles to string the DSL cable, maintain the DSL network and act as the company's collection agent.

There are several reasons for Dishnet's keenness in roping in cable operators. The most important ones being, the existing client base and the cable poles that would help DSL string its cables. Further a cable operator would take care of the cable's safety, as cable cutting by competition, like in other parts of the country, is rampant in the city. The company has already faced cable cutting a few times in the past.

While Dishnet has already enlisted around 15 cable operators in Chennai, it refuses to divulge the number of DSL subscribers it has now.

Apart from cable operators, the company on its own connects homes and business establishments with DSL from its hub or browsing centres. The cost of home and business connection is Rs 29,970 and Rs. 49,500 respectively, plus monthly service charges.

The company is being very aggressive in pushing its product in the home segment, as in the case of other dial up net access providers. It is offering free net access for one hour daily for five years, with a service charge of Rs 24 per hour for additional hours.