'We are planning to make cities In Gujarat Wi-Fi'
                              -Chirag Mehta, CEO & managing director, Icenet.net

How are things moving for Icenet.net? 
Consolidation and maturity in ISP space has made Icenet stronger and the company is  now competing with telcos on the enterprise space. For dial up services, the company has a total base of around 35,000 customers in nine cities. The cities covered by Icenet are: Ahemdabad, Baroda, Rajkot, Surat, Gandhidham, Kutch, Himmatnagar, Mehsana, Anand, Vapi and Valsad. On broadband front, we have a base of around 5,000 subscribers. And all this is presently supported by 300 Km of OFC backbone.   

We are a one stop shop for Internet. In terms of focus, we are targeting VoIP and enterprise. On the enterprise side, the focus is on wireless where the company is testing new technologies like Wi-Max and plans are to move to ILD space as and when it opens up. Presently, we have the license to originate calls but we do not have a license to terminate calls. Now with the license fees coming down, it makes an attractive proposition as calls termination is a huge business as there is more calls termination in comparison to call origination in India. The further opening up ILD sector will result in cheaper calls, resulting to good growth in ILD traffic thereby creating good business opportunity for new entrants. For ILD, the focus would be more on enterprise, retail, inbound and outbound call centers.   

What is the USP of Icenet.net?   
My focus is only Gujarat and my USP is in terms of service levels. We provide 24/7 corporate help desk facility. Once the complaint is registered, we reach as early as possible. We solve their network problems and provide business continuity as we have the flexibility since we are a small company. On the SLA side, we are raising the bar as we move forward.

Since 1998, we have been providing a complete migration path to our corporate customers. We started with dial-up and moved to e-mail service. Later, we started  leased line service and then moved to data security and data storage, network management, and facilities management.  In terms of clients, Icenet.net has all major clients under its belt like Asima, Adani, Norma, Space Application Centre, Torrent, Motif, Azure, and iCall.    

What are the new technologies that you are planning to deploy in future? 
Our strategy is to be ahead in the market and we are testing two new technologies-Wi-Max, and outdoor metro mesh Wi-Fi network. In the metro mesh network, we are doing pilots with Tropos.com and Bell Air.com. The pilot is conducted in an area of 29 square kilometer. While telcos are focusing on wireline, we are planning to make cities in Gujarat Wi-fi so that one can get Wi-Fi signals on their laptops. We are planning to have around 15-20 cell sites and looking at an investment of around Rs 2 crore to make Ahemdabad Wi-Fi. We have got an encouraging response and focusing our attention on it.

On the Wi-Max, we are doing pilots with Motorola for MotoWi4 which is a pre Wi-Max product and is based on TDD technology. In this case, we have set up three base stations, and are providing connections to corporate customers. Since the CPE costs are on a higher side, the focus is on corporate customers.

What are your revenue projections for FY 2006-07?
This year, we plan to close the year with revenues of Rs 20 crore and have a positive balance sheet. Next year, plans are afoot to achieve Rs 35 crore. ILD is planned through VC funding and internal accruals. For ILD, the company is planning for first year investment of around Rs 12 crore, and then plans are also for investment of Rs 20 crore in next to next year.     

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