BANGALORE: In keeping with the explosive worldwide growth of Wi-Fi; Microsense -- the largest provider of this service in the country -- announced their multi pronged growth strategy to set up 100 Wi-Fi spots across Delhi over the next six months.
Currently, Microsense has over 20 hotspots in the Delhi's NCR region and a total of 200 in the country. These locations include Café Coffee day outlets, hotels, restaurants and other convenient locations. All Microsense hot spots are Intel certified and Wi-Fi alliance certified to ensure the highest international standard of service.
Microsense is also implementing several hundred public hotspots across the country and expects its network to grow to 1,000 locations in the next six months. To further consolidate its position Microsense has built networks in partnership with telecom providers such as Airtel and MTNL, which will allow them to access the huge subscriber base of the service providers for Wi-Fi usage.
Microsense will focus on three business models for larger market
penetration:
Build, Operate and Share (BOS) - for the hospitality sector and property owners
Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) – for service providers, and
Build, Operate and Own, (BOO)
"The present population of laptops in India is about one million with 250,000 expected to be added next year. Laptop user will find ready availability of hotspots a great convenience for improved productivity. Microsense being an early mover is geared to ride the Wi-Fi wave in India," said Microsense Pvt Ltd managing director S Kailasanathan.
"Our objective is to cover the entire expanse of the NCR with hot spots, which allows our users to move 'wirelessly' in Delhi and adjoining cities," said Microsense director Deepak Talwar. "Through our proactive strategy and full service model we expect to attract more Wi-Fi users and significantly increase usage and we will Wi-Fi many of these places," he added.
The service will be provided through post-paid and pre-paid access accounts. Under the postpaid scheme users can choose from ‘Pay as you browse’ and a monthly flat charge. There are three offers under the prepaid category - Rs 35 for 15 minutes, Rs 55 for 30 minutes and Rs 105 for 60 minutes. Microsense roaming will also allow users to use the same account across the country.
Some Wi-Fi industry highlights:
IDC estimates 500,000 hotspots by 2010.
This year 45,000 hotspots have been installed globally, half in Asia, and the rest in US and Europe.
Hotspots revenue expected to reach $ 3 billion in the US and in Europe $ 2.6 billion by 2007.
Subscribers continue to be, primarily, business users that are accessing these networks via laptop computers. However, it is expected that the usage of wireless LAN-enabled handhelds/PDAs to increase over the next 18 months.
