Satyam sources said the two companies were still working out the modalities of the arrangement. Besides BPL, the internet service provider is also in talks with Videocon, Onida and others for similar marketing tie-ups. The bundled connections will be offered by the respective hardware sellers.Satyam had last month announced similar bundling initiatives with two set-top box manufacturers, who have already started offering their machines with the connection. While Hyderabad-based EyeNet is offering it for Rs 14,000, GES Technologies is doing it for Rs 10,000. Incidentally, Onida sources its set-top boxes from the latter.

Satyam has also forged co-marketing tie-ups with computer majors Compaq, HP and Microsoft in recent months. The company is working on more such associations.

Satyam, which has 55,000connections at present, is targeting 2 lakh connections by March 2000 and claims that the present numbers indicate it is well on course to achieve that. Satyam is presently operating its service in 16 cities and will add Goa and Jaipur by Thursday.

Speaking to The Financial Express on the sidelights of a press conference on Wednesday to announce a tie-up with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Satyam Infoway vice-president, internet sales, Pradeep Lakshmanan, said the company was not planning to compete with its rivals like Dishnet on price points.

"We would rather offer value addition through constant content development, co-marketing tie-ups and build a strong brand equity for our service. We have no intention of lowering the rates until VSNL does not do so because it is not feasible. Even Dishnet could not sustain what they started with," pointed out Lakshmanan.

"If VSNL does lower the retail internet tariffs, it will also lower bulk rates for other ISPs, in which case we can considerit. But as long as we are closer to VSNL rates, we will be accepted by the subscribers," he added.Admitting that SatyamOnline's service in Delhi had been far from satisfactory with poor connectivity rates, Lakshmanan blamed Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd for not releasing the full quota of connectivity applied for in time. It was bound to improve within a fortnight, he insisted. The ISP has 8,000 subscribers in Delhi at present.

Lakshmanan acknowledged that ISPs were far from attracting a reasonable advertising revenue. Satyam has constituted a separate space selling team. At present, it is offering only one slot of banner advertising for Rs 1 lakh. "Once the traffic picks up, we will introduce various slabs and rates," he added.

Meanwhile, Ignou has announced that it will provide internet access to 70,000 of its computer and information science students through SatayamOnline as part of its unique Virtual Campus Initiative. Under the project, Satyam will provide highly-subsidised connections to thestudents registered with the School of Computing and Information Sciences of Ignou.It would help students to access the courseware CD (compact disc) from the forthcoming semester which would also include software for internet access.