VIDESH SANCHAR Nigam Ltd (VSNL) today entered into a strategic alliance with indiainfo.com whereby the latter will become the default home page for all subscribers of VSNL's Internet facility.
As per the agreement, VSNL has taken 30 per cent equity stake in indiainfo.com and will also share in the revenues generated by the portal to an extent of 20 per cent with a minimum commitment of Rs 200 crore over the three year period of the agreement.
The two companies will jointly promote the portal "vsnl-indiainfo.com".
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Speaking at a Press conference to announce the tie up, Raj Koneru, chairman of indiainfo.com said that VSNL being the largest ISP in the country, its access to the subscriber base would catapult indiainfo.com to the number one visited site.
Commenting on the commercial benefits Koneru stated that the partnership would help drive up the e-commerce activities of both the companies primarily in B2B, B2C besides advertising.
"This will result from access to VSNL's subscriber base and consequently increased pageviews and registered users. The merging business model will create significant value for both Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited and indiainfo.com" Koneru said.
VSNL, until now has been focussed mainly on provision of internet access and the current agreement will give them access to both the best content as well as the best e-commerce facilities in the Indian internet space.
Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd presently has over 3,50,000 subscribers all of whom will now be registered onto Indiainfo.com's utilities and services.
The company has a tremendous infrastructure that includes 24 earth station antennae, 7 international gateways and 11 international switches.
Indiainfo.com offers services that include search engines, directories community products such as e-mail, message boards and e-commerce products.