The corporate business focus is in line with the company's recent decision to merge bplnet and BPL Broadband into a single entity named BPL Internet Works. The modalities and the organisational structure of the company is being worked out and it is believed that Mr BK Singhal, ex chairman of VSNL, who has just joined the BPL group, will head the new company.

BPL is expanding its Internet business by building Internet Data Centres with international and national connectivity, setting up ASP services and entering into broadband network and delivery service. The company has earmarked around Rs 400 crore to be invested in developing these businesses in the next 18 months.

Talking about the business plans of the company in Internet and broadband space, chief executive officer of bplnet R Lakshminarayan told The Financial Express that the company has decided to concentrate on corporate segment as it is more financially viable and stable. Moreover, the company plans to leverage on its Internet service clients to offer its other services such as Web hosting, data centres, ASP and broadband connectivity, he added.

"There is a great demand of quality bandwidth and reliable services with performance and uptime guarantee in enterprise space. We have already acquired around 300 corporate customers for our Internet services in last few months of operations," he said.

Mr Lakshminarayan also informed that bplnet is planning to enter ASP business in three vertical segments including ERP, finance and banking and telecom. The group already has domain knowledge and technical experience in the telecom sector, he said.

"We are in touch with many software companies which have been working in these three spaces for a long time and have developed Web-enabled applications in these areas for strategic tie-ups to offer application services. The company is also talking to some international and national ERP brands for similar tie-ups," said Mr Lakshminarayan.

bplnet has an Internet design and solution division which is involved in designing and development of portals.