Netxcell forms JV with African firm

Netxcell, a city-based value added service (VAS) provider for mobile companies, has joined hands with AquaSanTec Limited to form a joint venture company Netxcell Mauritius Limited (NML).

AquaSan is an Africa-based company offering water and sanitation solutions.

Addressing the media here on Thursday, Netxcell chief executive officer Debasis Chatterji said the joint venture, to be based at Mauritius, would help Netxcell enter the African markets.

Netxcell would hold 51 per cent and AquaSanTEc the remaining 49 per cent in the JV. “The companies differ in technologies. With AquaSanTec’s presence there, it would be easy to tap the markets and also reduce infrastructure costs,” he said.

Under the agreement, the JV would bill the operators in the African market directly and in turn Netxcell would bill NML for its services and technology. To begin with, Netxcell would help NML have its base in Kenya and deploy its sales and technical experts.

The reason for choosing Africa, Chatterji said, was its mobile telephone market, which was close to $3,000 million and the VAS market estimated to be about seven per cent of it at $220 million. VAS is growing at 15 per cent per annum in Africa.

“Netxcell is targeting three per cent market share in the next 18 months,” Chatterji said, adding the average revenue per user was higher in Africa at $8 as compared with $4 in India.

The company would focus on Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia where Zen, MTN, Vodafone and a regional company were the major mobile players.

The scope of VAS would increase with the launch of 3G services and mobile number portability in the country. The VAS market in India is pegged at over Rs 12,000 crore.