Budget 2001: Full Coverage

Tatanova is headed by Mr N Srinath, CEO, Tata Internet Services Limited(TISL) which is wholly owned by Tata Industries. Mr Srinath was earlier withTata Teleservices.

Tata Internet Services plans to invest in the region of about Rs 500 crorein the next five years in areas like network infrastructure, IT systems andbackup infrastructure and plans to explore the B2B and ASP markets. MrSrinath said that the company hopes to reach breakeven in the next 4-5years. He expects a revenue of Rs 70 crore in the first year of operation.The services will cater to corporates as well as a retail subscriber base.Mr Srinath indicated that for retail subscribers, a 100-hour package wouldcost Rs 750 but the detailed pricing for various packages both corporate andretail was not available.

TISL has a Category A national ISP licence and is starting with Internetaccess services in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi. Theservice will be rolled out in other cities after April.

Mr Srinath also said that the company plans to set up public internetcentres across the country either through partnerships or a franchiseesystem.

The Tata Internet Service's home page Tatanova.com (a horizontal generalinterest portal) currently features a women's site - Womannova.com, travelsite, Travnova.com and a money manager - Rupeasenova.com. Other key portalson the site include Driveindia.com, Indiaphotography.com andWebhealthcentre.com. Mr Srinath said that the company's strategy as far asexpanding content goes, involves making their own sites as well aspartnering with other content sites. Addressing the media, Mr KishorChaukar, MD, Tata Industries emphasised the role that Tata Internet Serviceswill play in e-enabling existing Group companies. "No business can dowithout Internet in the future and we regard the Group's domain knowledge invarious sectors as a critical strength" he stated.