The Rs 3,200-crore BPL group yesterday unveiled plans for aggressive expansion and consolidation of its telecom businesses through a strategic entry into new services like satellite telephony and Internet-based offerings and by growing through acquisitions in the cellular telecom business.
Speaking at a press conference here yesterday, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, chairman and managing director of the telecom business group of BPL, said the consumer electronics-to-power giant plans to offer satellite telephony services (or global mobile personal communications services) by adopting an unconventional approach of hiring satellite transponder capacity and beaming down signals rather than designing and launching its own satellite.
He declined to specify the amount of investment or a time schedule by which the service would be available. "Some of the foreign companies provide cheap transponders, which would make the business viable for us. It would also allow us geographical coverage, which would be an added advantage for our (cellular) mobile subscribers," he added.
Elaborating on the group's plans, Chandrashekhar said BPL Net_a division of BPL Wireless Technologies Pvt Ltd, the conglomerate's paging services venture_would become a national Internet service provider (ISP) in two-three months. Besides setting up Internet gateways (switching and transmission equipment linking ISP among one another) and computer servers for the purpose, he said the service would also provide Internet solutions for corporates and create content on the World Wide Web.
In an informal chat with reporters on the sidelines of the event, Chandrashekhar said the group was keen on acquisitions and was looking at buying cellular businesses in south and west India. "Our strength lies in these regions. We will look at the cellular companies in these areas," he revealed.
An associate company, BPL-US West Communications already holds the cellular licence in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The BPL telecom group CMD was here yesterday to launch Mumbai cellular operator BPL Mobile's intelligent network (IN) in the city. IN capabilities on cellular networks enable sophisticated features like prepaid calling cards, virtual private networks (a powerful intercom-like service across a city) and a host of similar offerings.
The intelligent network is part of a Rs 200-crore second phase of expansion of the BPL Mumbai network. The company has invested Rs 850-900 crore in the network, Chandrasekhar said. BPL Mobile is owned 74 per cent by BPL Cellular Holdings Ltd (BPLCH) and 26 per cent by France Telecom. The BPL group owns about 56 per cent of BPLCH. In another foray intended to leverage it 3,500-strong distributor network, BPL also plans to enter into telecom services re-selling. This essentially means that it will market the services of telecom operators in areas it is not licensed in. "The group has a strong distribution network already existing and we intend using these for re-selling of telecom services," he explained.
The group is waiting for the international markets to improve before listing BPLCH stock on the Nasdaq, the US over the counter exchange. BPL had attempted to list its paper on the exchange in November 1996, but pulled back the American depository receipts issue at the last moment after differences cropped up between the company promoters and potential investors on the price of the floatation.
