Broadband firm BroVis in talks to set up kiosks

Broadband wireless equipment manufacturer BroVis Wireless Networks (BVN) is in talks with the Union ministry of information technology to set up around 60,000 rural broadband kiosks in the next two-three years.

"We plan to leverage on the fibre optic cable which has already been laid near most of the six lakh villages in India. We will employ the services of the qualified engineers who are from rural areas to run these kiosks," said Muthu Logan, president and CEO, BWN. The investment for each of these RBKs is estimated to be around Rs 2 lakh and includes cost of physical and IT infrastructure.

"We are in the process of building an ecosystem which will consist of a partnership between the government, non-government organisations, broadband service providers, funding agencies and BroVis who will supply the equipment," Logan said.

BWN is currently in talks with a few funding agencies, service providers and the ministry of IT to roll out pilot projects in a select few villages in the next six months.

BWN wants to ensure that rural specific content is created with the help of universities and colleges so that it boosts the education level of villages.

"RBKs will integrate the urban infosystem with the rural economy thereby boosting trade. We also expect more awareness to be created about health through education," Logan said.

BWN is in advanced talks with investors from the US and India to fund its expansion and product development plans.

"We expect to raise about $3-4 million which will be used to develop our next generation of wireless broadband products. We will have marketing and support offices in mid-east Africa, US, Europe and the Asia-pacific region," Logan said.

The company expects its revenues to grow to Rs 125-150 crore by 2007 which is a five-fold increase from the present revenues of Rs 25 crore for 2004-05.

"Currently our revenues from exports is zero but we expect that 50 per cent of our turnover to come from abroad," Logan said.