The volcanic eruption in Iceland and subsequent cancellation of flights to and from the UK and Europe have opened up business opportunities for telecom service providers, who offer conferencing facilities.
According to industry sources, international service providers offering tele/video conferencing facilities such as Regus, Servcorp and Executive Centre have received several calls enquiring about available facilities.
The London Stock Exchange-listed Regus said its bookings had gone up by 20 per cent in India, 38 per cent in the United Kingdom and 12 per cent across Europe after flights were grounded. In the US bookings rose by 9 per cent, according to Madhusudan Thakur, the country head, Regus South Asia.
“We have seen a surge in enquiries for teleconferencing and video suits over the last 5-6 days. The demand is from across the industry as business travel has been affected,'' said Thakur.
Regus operates over 950 business centres in 70 countries, including 24 in India. It has 2,500 video communication suits across the world.
"We do see a spike in use of our services when there are strikes, like the London tube strike in June 2009. This was unprecedented because of the scale — in the UK and beyond. It is a more extensive lock down than 9/11.”
The demand for videoconferencing facilities is expected to continue for some more time as long as flights to and from the UK resume completely.
“Typically private equity funds, investors, IT firms and companies that have tied up with overseas firms are using such facilities,” says Raja Seetharaman, National Head (Agency Leasing), Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, an international property consultant.
Firms are upgrading their set up to cater to the surge in demand. “Lots of people work according to US and Europe timings. We have set up additional infrastructure to cater to the 24x7 demand,” Thakur added.
However, for domestic service providers like DBS Business Centres, life goes on as usual. “The enquiries are more or less constant as before with no signs of any impact due to the volcanic eruption,” says Vanita Bhandari, owner and director of DBS Business Centre.
