UK's New Call to invest $100 million in fixed line, Wi-Fi, messaging

NEW DELHI: New Call Telecom, the sixth largest residential ISP in the UK, will invest $100 million over the next 18 months in India towards strategic acquisitions of four mid-level telecom companies to enter fixed line connectivity, Wi-Fi and messaging domains.
Nigel Eastwood, chief executive of New Call Telecom, said that the company will announce two out of four planned acquisitions in next few weeks.

Eastwood reckons that the strategic acquisitions will enable the company to make strong organic growth in the fast growing Indian telecom market and establish a pan-India presence.

"Indian broadband market is growing and now it’s the suitable time for the investment. We have enormous management and marketing expertise in the telecom space," Eastwood said. "We have been successful in UK with our services and now want to establish a billion dollar telecom asset out of our India venture".

Dr. Jerome Booth, Chairman, New Call Telecom and Principal Investor into the company however clarified that the company would not be competing with incumbent telecom service providers in the country. "We hope to generate new revenue streams by partnering with incumbent operators."

Eastwood said that the company was looking at an ecosystem for over-the-top (OTT) broadband services in the country, leveraging the existing service provider infrastructure. "We are looking at revenue sharing with existing service providers through various innovative business models by identifying synergies across a number of different existing businesses".

The company aims to offer fixed-line broadband and public Wi-Fi services in the country. Its initial focus for 12-24 months will be on metro cities, since there is a concentration of subscribers in these cities.

"Moving forward, the company would be tapping the semi –rural and rural areas of the country for its internet services," Eastwood added.

Eastwood said that the company has a sustainable business model for the fixed-line broadband and Wi-Fi services, which it will be implementing in India. Booth added that based on the first 12 months of trajectory, the company would do more investments in India.

According to Eastwood, data offloading is a concern for Indian telcos and New Call Telecom is looking to help them overcome the challenges through its services in collaboration with them.

Besides these planned services, the company is also keen on working with the Indian government for its Rs 7,000 crore worth in its 'smart cities' project. "We are essentially looking at Wi-Fi service for the planned smart cities in the country. We want to work in line with the Indian Government’s strategy," Eastwood said.

The company would also explore the e-commerce segment in the country going ahead. "Under our medium to long-term strategy, we would be looking at building synergies around our different business areas involving data analytics and e-commerce, thus, developing a unified communications platform," Booth said.