Hyderabad, Oct. 5:

NetXcell Ltd, a value-added services provider for telecom carriers, on Friday announced plans to set up two offices and a data centre in the US to offer its hosted services.

These centres will come up at Seattle and Dallas and the latter is set to also host a data centre in addition to the one in India at Hyderabad.

The Executive Chairman, NetXcell, Mr Dayakar Pushkoor, said that with most of the telecom operators realising that revenues from voice-based services are coming down, they are exploring new ways to offer value-added services. Most of these companies do not directly offer them but partner other services providers like NetXcell to roll out these value-added offerings. This could be either a license-based arrangement or a revenue sharing model.

Speaking to newspersons, Mr Pushkoor said that the company recently finalised $1 million in funding from two venture capital firms — Ignition Capital and Ruderman capital — and is in negotiations for infusing $3 million in the second round of funding, all aimed at expanding services overseas.

Later this month, the company, along with several other services providers, is showcasing its products at the Microsoft event to be hosted at Bangalore, where several venture firms, including Sequoia Capital, Microsoft Venture group and others are set to participate.

Market value

The market for value-added services is estimated at about $3 billion globally. In India it is now at $300 million and projected to touch about $1 billion by 2010. Since these services also enable media companies to stream their advertisements, it has become a thrust area, Mr Pushkoor said.

Taken from Business Line

thehindubusinessline.in