"We are laying fibre optic cables in all the major districts in Tamil Nadu and in four months, it will be completed," said Rushi Golwala, project consultant, World Tel (India). It may be recalled, the Vancouver-based Canadian company, World Tel, has signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government to open community Internet centres (CIC) in major districts/towns of the state. World Tel has also signed similar agreement with six other state governments in India.
According to Golwala, World Tel is talking to Alcatel and Cisco for sourcing backbone equipment. It is also taking with the TeNet group of IIT Madras and its associates for using the corDECT system for providing Net access.
Backed by American International Group Inc., USA, (AIG), GE and Intel, World Tel is an initiative of ITU for developing telecom infrastructure in developing countries.
In India, World Tel has chosen the Reliance group as its country partner, with an equity stakes of 37 per cent in all the Indian ventures. Golwala said that the Tamil Nadu project would need an outlay of Rs 400 crore and the total investments in India will be around Rs 3,000 crore. However, he said that the equity/debt ratio is yet to be decided.
World Tel has also approached the railways to use its
communication network for setting up internet kiosks in railway stations and surrounding areas. "World Tel's vision is to commoditise Internet/media services by using IP infrastructure," Golwala said. According to him, World Tel will encourage the existing STD/ISD booth operators to offer Net browsing services.
The other market segments that World Tel is looking at are
resellers (ISP's, residential/commercial complexes), captive users (corporates, houses) and government (offices, institutions and residences).
"Our model constitutes a few CICs owned by World Tel and
several others being franchised." World Tel, as per Golwala, has tied up with financial institutions for financing the franchisees.
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