Message-ID: <8182883.1075843083519.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 04:47:00 -0800 (PST) From: scott.bolton@enron.com To: sue.nord@enron.com, susan.landwehr@enron.com, jeff.dasovich@enron.com, marchris.robinson@enron.com, lisa.yoho@enron.com, aleck.dadson@enron.com, joe.hillings@enron.com, clong@enron.com Subject: ECI - India Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: Scott Bolton X-To: Sue Nord, Susan M Landwehr, Jeff Dasovich, Marchris Robinson, Lisa Yoho, Aleck Dadson, Joe Hillings, clong@enron.com X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Jeff_Dasovich_Dec2000\Notes Folders\Eci X-Origin: DASOVICH-J X-FileName: jdasovic.nsf Cuckoo Paul & Arnab Mukherjee 11/16/1999 The Economic Times Copyright (C) 1999 The Economic Times; Source: World Reporter (TM) MUMBAI 15 NOVEMBER ENRON Communications (ECI), an affiliate of the $31bn energy major Enron Corp, is preparing for a major push in the Indian communications sector. Enron will start off by forming a joint venture with the public sector Ircon (Indian Railway Construction Company) to enter the telecommunication business. Enron will provide very high capacity broad-band networks as well as services, followed by bandwidth trading in India, said Enron South Asia CEO and managing director Sanjay Bhatnagar. Enrons joint venture with Ircon is expected to help the former use the Indian Railways reach for laying the fibre-optic networks. Mr Bhatnagar did not confirm the JV proposal nor reveal precise details but The Economic Times has learnt that the Ircon board has already cleared the proposal. ECI, through a separate subsidiary, is likely to spearhead Enrons telecom businesses in India. Speaking about ECIs plans, Mr Bhatnagar said, This will be a new business for us in India, though we have been doing it in the US for over two years. Enron already has 32,000 kilometres of fibre-optic broadband network in the US connecting 18 cities. The next-generation broadband network will incorporate both terrestrial components like fibre-optic cable and space components like satellites. While the network and the services will be rolled out nationally within six to eight months, Enron, the worlds largest gas and electricity trader, will get into bandwidth trading activity in India only about two years from now, Mr Bhatnagar said. Broad-bandwidth networks will be the infrastructure of the future, he said, adding, Enron will use its expertise in energy trading for bandwidth trading. The networks and services will allow applications like video-conferencing and video-delivery. We will target multiple customers, including ISPs and corporates with requirement for high bandwidth, Mr Bhatnagar added. Bandwidth trading will allow under-utilised networks to be used to full capacity, as excess capacity will be sold when not needed by particular customers. These initiatives will also allow hosting of burgeoning Indian content within India, thus facilitating the domestic Internet market, as Internet usage becomes easier and more cost-effective, he said. Globally, there is great synergy between pipelines and fibre optic networks and it makes perfect sense for Enron to tap the communications potential, said an energy analyst. The pipelines are used as conduits for fibre optics which can carry voice, data or video information, he added. Even in India, some utilities like the MSEB (Maharashtra State Electricity Board) and the Indian Railways are already using this routing. Electricity and gas distribution companies have a natural monopoly in the form of their pipeline and cabling which has the benefit of a wide reach that can be used by others. Ircon has been known for innovation in its business and has expanded its international operations in the past few years. The company recently got a Rs 525-crore order from Malaysian Railways, where the company which could not pay in cash paid Ircon in kind. Malaysian Railway paid MMTC in the form of palm oil and MMTC paid IRCON cash in India. Ircon also paid its highest ever dividend of 225 per cent this year to the government. The company made a profit of Rs 56.2 crore .