Netmagic to target 350 Japanese firms in India

The plan is to tie up with all existing providers, construct single network for an enterprise

Managed hosting and cloud service provider Netmagic Solutions says it is targeting the 350-odd Japanese companies in India as part of its expansion plan.

A fully owned subsidiary of Japan-based NTT Communications, it launched national long distance (NLD) services last year. It plans to take on lease the fibre laid by existing telecom operators, not lay its own.

"As of now, we want to focus heavily on the Japanese customers. There are more than 350 Japanese MNCs who are very actively engaged in India. For our network business, our strategy is first to go to these guys, as most of them are NTT global customers," executive director and president Sunil Gupta told Business Standard.  

He said it made sense for these Japanese companies to have a single provider across the globe. Apart from these, it is looking at other global multinationals in India which are NTT customers in other regions.

Asked when the company could achieve its targeted customer base, Gupta said, "Hopefully, in the next 12-15 months." It currently has 55 enterprise customers.

Gupta said with so much of fibre laid underground by telecom operators over the past 20 years, there was no point in one more player coming in and digging the roads. "Our plan is not to get our own fibre. We are tying up with all the providers, like Tata, Vodafone, Sify, Airtel or Reliance, and then constructing a single network for an enterprise," he added.

The company says it has no plan to enter mobile connectivity and servicing of individuals -- it sees its strength in data centres and the connectivity business through fibre. Netmagic has seven data centres in the country and plans to add two, with an initial investment of $160 million (Rs 1,000 crore).

The company acquired a Virtual Network Operator-International Long Distance network licence in March.

"India has been a key strategic market for us, with the accelerating shift of information technology services from traditional enterprise data centres into cloud-based services," said NTT Communications' president and chief executive, Tetsuya Shoji.

For the past few years, he said, their business in India had consistently grown at a little over 35 per cent annually.

"With further expansion of data centre footprint and addition of international data network services to our portfolio, we aim to meet the growing market needs for mobility, e-commerce, the internet of things (IoT), cloud and big data," Shoji added.