Chennai:

Sify will launch its hybrid (wireless and cable) retail broadband services in Mumbai and Chennai this year and expand its operations soon to reach a larger market.

The retail pricing is comparable to that of cable Internet players like Hathway Cable & Datacom, Asianet India and Zee Interactive, and with DishnetDSL, which offers digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband. Further, subscribers do not need to buy/rent modems as they do for cable/DishnetDSL connections.

For Rs 999 per month and a one-time installation charge of Rs 3,500, a Sify subscriber gets a broadband connection guaranteeing a minimum speed of 48 kbps that can go up to a maximum of 64 kbps. While a dial-up connection costs around Rs 33 per hour, Sify's broadband service costs Rs 25 per hour. There is no restriction in the case of operating systems used on a subscriber's computer.

In the case of corporates, the initial payment is Rs 60,000, with prepaid cards for browsing.

Sify will offer the service by setting up base stations in different parts of the city. Then a wireless receiver is fixed at the top of the customer's building in the line of sight with the base station. From the wireless receiver, the subscriber's premises are wired with an Ethernet cable.

According to David Appasamy, general manager, Corporate Communications, Sify is also exploring the possibility of working with cable television operators. The company will also leverage its I-ways (cyber café chain) spread across the country for this service.

''Some 520 I-ways offer broadband access to subscribers while 400 residential buildings in Mumbai are "smart" buildings with broadband access. In fact broadband access today contributes 33 per cent of Sify's consumer access revenues (ISP and I-ways)."

Started in April 1998, Sify (Rs 157-crore turnover) operates in both the corporate and consumer segments over a common network infrastructure and a common technology knowledge base.

''Sify's key strength has been its ability to leverage its infrastructure for multiple services to corporates and consumers. In addition, Sify's integrated Internet and e-commerce model enables highly efficient use of infrastructure and other costs. Sify has also used its early mover advantage to get choice customers and choice technology partners,'' adds Appasamy.

According to Appaswamy, the market is in too nascent a stage for any definitive information about the size. ''We see the potential for high growth in major metro cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta, Hyderabad and so on.''

The company will soon be expanding this service in Chennai to take advantage of the gap left by Cyberwave Internet Solutions, a cable Internet company, that closed shop very recently. (See Two players quit Chennai net cable field; Hathway benefits)

But what is not clear is whether Sify will restrict its service to residential/commercial complexes that guarantee some minimum number of connections. DishnetDSL and Hathway Cable offer multiple connections through a router in a residential/commercial complex, provided eight subscribers buy their service.

But the competition is not nervous. ''We are pioneers in broadband in India. When others were talking about dial-up connections, we offered DSL connectivity. We are now looking at other technologies to be ahead of the competition,'' responds an official of DishnetDSL.

According to him, DishnetDSL, part of the Sterling group promoted by C Sivasankaran, has 25,000 subscribers in the country, of which 14,000 are in the South.

DishnetDSL recently closed a special scheme. ''We got very good response for the scheme with the new subscriber growth rate going up by whopping 70 per cent as compared to the previous months,'' the Dishnet official adds.

Once a privilege of corporates, the reduction in bandwidth prices has resulted in broadband connectivity reaching a wider populace.