Nextra Tele plans to raise Rs 200 crore to expand footprint

Fixed-line broadband firm Nextra Teleservices is planning to raise up to Rs 200 crore by diluting equity in the company to expand to five states, including Rajasthan, Punjab and Maharashtra.

"We are looking to have about three lakh connected homes on our network by March 2018. At present, we have services in Delhi serving about 40,000 customers. We plan to expand within Delhi NCR and in four other states by 2018," Nextra Teleservices President Nikhil Bansal told PTI.

The company has applied for pan-India internet licence to upgrade the current permit, but is yet to receive the final approval from the Department of Telecom.

"One we have ISP A licence, we are looking to expand our service in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Maharashtra. We are in talks with investors to raise over Rs 200 crore through equity dilution. We see opportunity to connect 15 crore homes through high speed broadband by 2018," Bansal said.

Nextra, at present, has opportunity to reach five lakh homes through its own as well as partner networks.

"Out of five lakh homes, we have our own optical fibre reaching out to 1.5 lakh homes. We have been able to capture market because of affordable high speed plans. We are providing constant speed of 10 mbps till 30 GB for Rs 999 and 512 kbps thereafter. We don't have scope to promise and not deliver," Bansal said.

Nextra is partnering cable operators and optical fibre companies to expand its services.

The company will also use the fund to develop its own content platform and internet based calling service, Bansal said.