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Geeta Nair
Pune, Dec 7: Who should go down in history as the country's first private Internet service provider? While SatyamOnline has been going to town about being the country's first ISP getting even the prime minister to inaugurate its Net debut, Pune-based WMINet feel that the position is rightfully theirs.
WMINet activated the first connection on November 21, a day before SatyamOnline did so. Till date, WMINet has booked 628 subscribers of which 200 are already online. Meanwhile, Satyam took off by only booking customers and Net access has just started.
Netcousin Rediff On The Net too is backing WMINet's claims. The only differnece is that while SatyamOnline is the national ISP which involved a Rs 2 crore license fee, WMINet has the category `B' license and covers only the Maharashtra telecome circle with a fee of Rs 0.20 crore.
At present WMINet has a 128 kbps leased line with 96 telephone lines and plans to shift to a 2 mbs soon with another 100 telephone connections. WMINet service has been launched inPune by Weikfield Mnemonix InfoNetworks Pvt Ltd, a company started by the Weikfield Group and computer professionals Gautam Godse and Vikram Godse. WMI has been Pune's first and only BBS or bulleting board service provider. The BBS has been running for four years now. The company is into web services and intranet services business in the city. An associate company Weikfield Computer Academy is into computer education.
WMI plans to spread its wings from a regional player to a bigger player in the country's Internet market. According to WMI director Gautam Godse, the company has been receiving enquiries from other private ISPs for providing solutions and kicking off opeations on a turnkey basis. The turnover of the company is expected to go up from Rs 1 crore last year to Rs 2.5 crore this year.
Within a month of granting licence to private ISPs competition between the private Internet service providers is hotting up at the retail end. Apart from the connection with various time options, players areoffering more services to woo customers. WMINet is offering a personal Web page, free connect software, domain names and unlimited access plan.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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