Sloka Has A New Growth Strategy

Banglore-based Sloka Telecom has decided to focus on the WiFi space and plans to release WiFi 11n-based products in India.

"In addition to WiMax, we are now embracing WiFi 11n to release our products," says Sujai Karampuri, cofounder and CEO, Sloka Telecom, in an interaction with Light Reading India.

The company received a venture-capital funding of US$600,000 (INR 33.3 million) from the Karnataka Information Technology Venture Capital Fund (KITVEN) last year. It is expected to announce a new product series, with solutions for telecom companies and ISPs, based on WiFi 11n technology in the frequency range of 5.1-5.9 GHz for the Indian market.

Sloka has signed at least four ISP (Internet Service Providers) customers in India, in addition to collaborating with customers in Thailand, South America and other places. Founded with a vision of providing WiMax-based solutions, the company has gone through a transformation since the massive collapse of the WiMax opportunity in India.

"We were seeing WiMax as an attractive offering for the ISPs but because of the market dynamics, it became very tough for us to push products," Karampuri adds.

Besides selling equipment [CPE] to system integrators, Sloka offers three kinds of engagements to ISPs which includes selling equipment, providing technical consulting support before and after network implementation, and a managed service business model. The company is presently working with ISPs like YOU Broadband and Asia Netcom and is expected to close multiple partnerships in a couple of months.

The company says that it has an advantage over its competitors since the solutions offered by the company can help service providers manage bandwidth across large distances without using fiber.

Sloka expects to tie-up with at least six tier-2 ISPs and 10-15 smaller ISPs within India in this financial year. It has also set a target to partner with close to six major ISPs outside India. "With these collaborations in sight, we are looking at revenues to the tune of INR 8-INR 10 crore, up from the existing 1.2 crore by the end of this financial year," says Karampuri.

Several ISPs outside India are using Sloka's VoLTE (Voice Over LTE) capability. In India, ISPs can provide VoLTE provided they have the spectrum - the partners Sloka has engaged with are non-telephony players.

The company is looking for another round of investment of about US$5 million (INR 27.8 crore) to expand its footprint in the country. It says it is open to get acquired, provided a suitable business option comes along.

Sloka competes with the likes of Radwin and Alvarion Ltd. in India.

- Jatinder Singh, Principal Correspondent, Light Reading India