The company has no immediate plans to withdraw its Silver Access pack, a scheme similar to Dishnet's inaugural offer.

KMR Online, which had launched its services ahead of Dishnet but in a low key manner, swung into action when Dishnet announced the launch of its inaugural scheme from April 15 this year.

Dishnet asked for a sum of Rs 3,300, more as security deposit, which would not be reimbursed. In turn, the subscriber could access internet free for the first hour every day for five years. For every additional hour, the subscriber would be charged Rs 10 per hour. (The scheme has been withdrawn wef July 1, and only existing subscribers can continue with it.)

A few days before Dishnet's launch, KMRintroduced its `Silver Access' to counter competition. The package consist of a trial offer for 30 hours for Rs 890 and the Gold Packs - a 100-hour offer for Rs 2,900; a 250-hour pack costing Rs 4,900; and a 500-hour package for Rs 7,900.

The Gold packs are particularly preferred by foreign customers. Despite various ISPs revising charges from time to time, KMR has maintained its slabs.

According to managing director MR Selvakumar, "we have never lost our customers. People usually start with the trial offer and move on to either the Silver Access or the Gold pack," he said.

It offers its internet services in the ratio of one line to eight subscribers, making connectivity far easier. Other service providers' ratios vary from 1:18 to 1:22.

KMR is upgrading its server and bandwidth to take care of 2,000 subscribers this year. Currently, the company has a 1 mbps bandwidth which is being increased to 2 mbps in two weeks' time. (VSNL has 8 mbps and Satyam and Dishnet have 2 mbps each).

KMR is alsoplanning to set up its own gateway in collaboration with foreign players. While Selvakumar did not divulge the names of these players, he said that the interested parties were from Israel and the US.