Comsat Max Foray Into Std Business
Comsat Max, a joint venture between Comsat International and Max India, is planning to enter the domestic long distance business once the sector is opened up, Comsat International president and general manager James Welch told Business Standard.
"We will look into carrying PSTN (Public Service Telephone Network) voice for corporate clients only, and have plans to cater to individuals," Welch said. He, however, said the plans would only be formalised after the government announces the guidelines.
Welch said the company might increase the equity base from the present Rs 32 crore if its partner, Max India, came up with an interesting proposition. "We have had a great marriage and both Max and Comsat have no problems with cash," he said without divulging further details.
Comsat Max, which posted a turnover of about Rs 43 crore in the previous fiscal, hopes to increase it to about Rs 65 crore by the end of the current financial year.
Welch said the company was targeting a turnover of about $ 100 million in three to five years. "We want to touch the $ 1 billion-mark in another seven to eight years," he added.
Comsat Max also intends to increase the number of gateways to eight from the present five cities for which it has received approval from the department of telecommunications (DoT). The services are scheduled to begin in the third quarter.
Comsat Max is planning gateways in Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad and Bangalore.
"We want to create alternative paths to bring about reliability and offer the best possible quality of service. Even if one path is clogged, we will be able to route the service through the other gateway," Comsat Max chief executive Sudipta K Sen said.
Welch also said the company might invest in creating its own backbone if the infrastructure level did not grow enormously.
"We will offer things like voice and video through broadband and at this point, India promises to be a big market," Welch said.
He added that if the joint venture cannot get enough broadband, then it would consider connectivity between cities.
"We have sufficient bandwidth now and will like to see the market develop. But if the satellite and the DoT infrastructure is not sufficient to meet our needs, we will put up our own network," he said.
He was, however, quick to add that the decision on a backbone would depend on the growth in the market over the next one year or so.