CHENNAI, MARCH 7
The Financial Express
Two years after selling his internet broadband business
— Dishnet DSL — to Tatas-controlled VSNL,
NRI businessman C Sivasankaran plans a Wi-Fi initiative.
Dishnet Wireless Ltd, a subsidiary of Sivasankaran’s
Sterling Group, will launch a slew of wireless services,
including Wi-Fi, Wi-Max and Enterprise Services Solutions
(ESS) throughout India. The move comes close on the
heals of Centre freeing the 2.4 Ghz and 5.1 Ghz bands,
on which the Wi-Fi platform works for Wi-Fi services.
While the Wi-Fi service will be launched in mid-April,
the Wi-Max services will be launched in May, senior
company officials said. Mr Sivasankaran’s move
to foray into the wireles business has surprised many
as the Wi-Fi business, which was once touted to take
the country by storm, was written off by leading players
some time back.
Leading players like VSNL and Sify have put their
Wi-Fi braodband ideas on the backburner due to poor
response from netizens. However, VG Suri, vice-president,
sales and marketing, Dishnet Wireless Ltd, said the
company would be investing around Rs 250 crore in
the wireless business. “We will be launching
wireless services throughout the country starting
from April.
The first service to be launched will be Wi-Fi, followed
by Wi-Max and ESS”. Dishnet will provide Wi-Fi
broadband service at a speed of 512 kilo bites per
second and above, he claimed. Dishnet plans to set
up a total of 6,000 hotspots across 180 cities in
the country. Currently, the country has little less
than 250 hotspots and more than 95% of them are in
Banglore alone.
