Microsense to invest $3 m on Wi-Fi hotspots

Chennai-based Microsense, a Wi-Fi infrastructure and services provider, is
embarking on an expansion plan to have more than 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots within six
months time. The company would be investing close to $ three million to achieve
this objective.

"According to our own study, there are close to 400 hot spots in India.
We have around 200 hotspots. Our plan is to increase this figure to about 1,000
within six months and we would be investing around $ three million for
this," informed Microsense MD S Kailasanathan.

Presently, the company is providing services at five star hotels and about 20
Café Coffee day outlets in Mumbai. It is planning to expand the total number of
outlets in the city to about 100 in the coming months, which would include
restaurants, hotels, etc.

The service will be provided through post-paid and pre-paid access accounts.
Under the pre-paid category, the company would charge Rs 35 for 15 minutes, Rs
55 for 30 minutes and Rs 105 for 60 minutes. Under the post-paid scheme, users
can choose from 'Pay as you browse' and a monthly flat charge.

Working under the build, operate and transfer policy for service providers,
the company is working closely with national operators like Bharti and MTNL to
increase their Wi-Fi hotspot capacity in the country. "Presently we have
done 100 hot spots for Bharti in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Similarly, we have
also done 22 hotspots for MTNL's network in Delhi and Mumbai. We would be
adding another 20 hot spots for MTNL in a couple of month's time,"
Kailasanathan added.

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) for its flagship brand to be launched soon.

The company is also working towards increasing the Wi-Fi concept in the
region by aligning itself with laptop vendors. "We plan to tie up with
different laptop vendors in the region so as to provide our Wi-Fi capabilities
to laptop mobile segment in the country. We would be talking to all major laptop
vendors to bundle our solution with their products," Kailasanathan
explained.

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