India Net capacity at 80% after cables break

India's Internet services were operating at about 80 percent of capacity on Friday after breaks in undersea cables disrupted Web access, and normal services could be restored in a week, an industry official said.

The underseas cable connections were disrupted off Egypt's northern coast on Wednesday, affecting Internet access in the Gulf region and south Asia, and forcing service providers to reroute traffic.

India's booming outsourcing industry, which provides a range of back-office services like insurance claims processing and customer support to overseas clients over the Internet, played down the disruption, saying it had back-up plans in place.

Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers' Association of India, said service providers were diverting Internet traffic to ensure there was no disruption in services.

"I would say 70 to 80 percent of the Internet services are operating normally now. It will take about a week to bring the services back to normal," Chharia said.

"Though we will continue to see some latency, there won't be any chocking in Internet access that we saw in the last couple of days."

He said cable repair ships had already been SENT to fix the breaches, which are in segments of two intercontinental cables known as SEA-ME-WE-4 and FLAG.

A spokesman for FLAG in Mumbai has declined comment on the state of restoration of operations but Punit Garg, chief executive officer of FLAG Telecom, said on Thursday the cable breaks would not cause any revenue loss to the company.

"Where the cable cut has happened, we are building a new cable over there, which is the FLAG Mediterranean cable, which will connect Egypt to France," Garg told an investor conference call.

"So in future we will see that FLAG will have a fully redundant and resilient network.... For our enterprise customers, that (connectivity) is being taken care through the restoration on other alternate hubs."

FLAG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of India's No. 2 mobile operator Reliance Communications and it operates a cable network of 65,000 route kilometres connecting the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia.

"Connectivity has been restored to a large number of our customers," said a spokesman for Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, an internet service provider.

"NO COMPLAINTS"

Officials at outsourcing firms in India said many had alternate networks and traffic was automatically routed to a different link in the event of a breakdown.

"We have not heard of any customer complaints so far because of this," said a spokeswoman for HCL Technologies Ltd (HCLT.BO: Quote,... Profile, Research), which offers IT solutions and back-office services.

The International Cable Protection Committee, an association of 86 submarine cable operators dedicated to safeguarding submarine cables, says more than 95 percent of transoceanic telecoms and data traffic are carried by submarine cables, and the rest by satellite.

US phone Companies Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc both use the affected cables. AT&T said on Thursday its networks were already back to normal as it had rerouted traffic and Verizon expected service to be restored for all its customers in a matter of days.

Investigations into what caused the break are continuing, but there were storms in the area at the time.

One of the biggest disruptions of modern telecoms systems was in December 2006, when a magnitude 7.1 earthquake broke nine submarine cables between Taiwan and the Philippines, cutting connections between southeast Asia and the rest of the world.

Internet links were thrown out in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines, disrupting the activities of banks, airlines and all kinds of email users.

Traffic was rerouted through other cables, but it took 49 days to restore full capacity....

LIC enters health insurance sector

Insurance giant, LIC is entering health insurance business with the launch of ‘Health Plus’ on February 4 across the country to provide health benefits to all people in the rural as well as urban areas, a top company official said.

"Health Plus policy is unique in its kind providing health benefits to entire family (husband, wife and children) in one policy and provides daily hospital cash benefit, ICU expenses, major surgical benefit and domiciliary treatment benefit," LIC Sr Divisional Manager Partha Samal told newsmen.

He said since it is a unit linked product, it allows investment of surplus funds in capital market, giving health benefits and capital market gains.

Samal said a person paying Rs 15,000 yearly premium for his family can claim tax benefits under section 80d and can avail major surgical benefits of Rs 5,00,000 per member along with hospital cash benefit of maximum of Rs 2500 per day.

During the term of policy, this benefit shall be available for 365 days for each member. Domiciliary treatment benefit can be availed twice a year.

The policy also provides easy withdrawal of funds after three years. Nagpur division has set target of selling two lakh policies during the next two months, Samal added.

Benefit of growth should reach poor: FM

The Economy has moved to a higher growth trajectory like ‘never before’ under the Congress-led UPA Government, but such a performance would have no meaning if the benefits did not reach those at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said.

During the last three years of the UPA Government, the Economy had moved to a high growth trajectory as the average growth touched 8.5 per cent. During the period, the Economy had grown from 7.5 per cent to 9.6 per cent, he said.

"This growth will have no meaning if it does not benefit a large number of people," he said in his inaugural address at the formal launch of 'Janasree,' a sustainable development mission.

The Finance Minister said the UPA Government was ‘concerned’ that a large section of the people were not part of the financial system. Over 50 per cent of the people in the country have no bank accounts and do not deposit money or borrow from the banks, he said.

"The heart of an Economy is a financial system and heart beat of the Economy is the banking system," he said, adding the self help groups and NGOs have a great role to play in this regard.

India had the largest number of SHGs numbering about 30 lakh and banks had given credit to the tune of Rs 80,000 crore. In Kerala, 1,19,182 SHGs were there and about Rs 800 crore credit had been disbursed, he said.

He said the Micro Financial Development and Regulating Bill, seeking to regulate not-for-profit organisations, was pending before Parliament. It tends to regulate such organisations "very lightly" and once the bill was passed, movements like Janasree would gain legitimacy, he added.

Another cable damaged, no impact on Net services

fter the snapping of two undersea cables off Eqypt coast, another internet cable -- Falcon, which is owned by Flag Telecom, has been damaged in the Middle East but it is unlikely to affect internet operations across India.

Reliance Communications-owned Flag Telecom reported the cut in Falcon cable yesterday morning, according to the information posted on the company's website.

"The damage in Falcon cable will not affect Internet services across India as it does not carry any traffic concerning our country," Internet Service Providers Association of India President Rajesh Chharia said.

The cable was cut 56 km away from Dubai, UAE on the segment between UAE and Oman. The company said it was arranging restoration of circuits for customers covered under pre-planned restoration service.

The repair ship has been notified and expected to reach the site in the next few days, it said.

About 50-60 per cent of the capacity was affected due to rupture in the two undersea cables namely SEMEWE-4 Cable (SMW-4) and FLAG Cable on Wednesday's night, which connect India to Western Europe, due to anchoring of ships near Alexandria.

However, all the internet links in the country were restored yesterday after Internet Service Providers shifted their traffic to other alternate route.

It would take 10-12 days to repair the damaged cables and shift the traffic back to them.

VSNL, Reliance and Bharti Airtel were in constant touch with Telecom Egypt to ensure speedy repair of the two submarine cables, the Department of Telecom had said after reviewing the situation.

Hyundai opens new India plant to double output

Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's top automaker, on Saturday opened its second plant in India to take on growing competition and cementing the country's position as a global hub for small cars.

Hyundai, which along with affiliate Kia Motors, is the world's sixth-largest automaker, is banking on new models such as the premium Genesis, and new factories in markets such as China and India to boost sales by 20 percent this year.

Hyundai is the second-biggest carmaker in India and the company said it is prepared to fight greater competition from an ultra-cheap car from No. 3 Tata Motors.

"We are not looking to compete with the Nano in terms of price, but we are keeping our options open," said Ashok Jha, president Hyundai Motor India referring to the Tata car priced at just over $2,500.

The proposed mini car would be a mass market model that meets all global standards, he said without elaborating.

The new factory in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, will double capacity to 600,000 units, second only to leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd's planned expansion to 1 million units by 2010/11.

The plant, which is adjacent to the existing plant, will largely be dedicated to making the new i10 for local and export markets, Chairman and Chief Executive Chung Mong-Koo said.

"Hyundai Motor India will play its role of a global manufacturing hub for all of Hyundai's small car models."

Hyundai has spent $1 billion on the new plant. An engine and transmission plant, with a capacity of 300,000 units, will be operational later this year, Jha said.

Hyundai last week beat market expectations by more than doubling its quarterly operating profit, and predicted higher 2008 margins.

It is aiming for a 6.5 percent operating profit this year and a 20 percent rise in vehicle sales to 3.11 million units.

It will count on new models such as the Genesis premium sedan and cost-saving efforts, while a weaker won will help score price competitiveness against Japanese firms battling a stronger yen.

But high prices of oil and raw materials and a potential slowdown in the global economy are concerns.

There are also worries about its growth in the United States and China, the world's two biggest auto markets, which have been hit respectively by a weak economy and tough competition.

Hyundai sold 244,148 vehicles in January, 25 percent more than a year ago, helped by the revamped Sonata sedan. It sold 192,230 vehicles overseas, an increase of 28 percent.

INDIA GROWTH

In India, leader Maruti Suzuki is ramping up and Tata Motors will roll out later this year the Nano, which could steal share from the popular Hyundai Santro hatchback.

Renault and Nissan Motor are studying the feasibility of a $3,000 car with motorbike maker Bajaj Auto, while others including Toyota Motor and Volkswagen have also expressed interest in a cheap car.

Annual passenger vehicle sales in India are estimated to nearly double to 2 million units by 2010 on rising incomes and new launches. Hyundai is aiming for a quarter of the market in 2008, up from just over 20 percent now.

Hyundai sold 327,160 vehicles in India in 2007, up 9 percent from the previous year. Sales of models such as the Santro and Getz hatchbacks rose 8 percent in the domestic market, while exports climbed 12 percent.

Hyundai said it aims to make 530,000 vehicles in 2008. It is expanding its local dealer network to 300 from 230, and will export to 90 markets, up from 73, from the port city of Chennai.

Hyundai is also talking to Indian firms for a possible venture for commercial vehicles.

Maruti Suzuki raises prices by 1,000-11,000 rupees

India's top car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, said on Saturday it had raised prices of many of its models by 1,000-11,000 rupees, mostly due to higher raw material prices.

Maruti is a unit of Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp and its models include the Alto and Swift hatchback.

Yahoos fear loss of fun-loving culture

Will Yahoos' yodels be silenced?

Yahoo Inc employees fretted on Friday that their fun-loving culture, summed up by early company ads featuring a cowboy yodel, could get quashed by the comparatively stodgy software behemoth that wants to gobble it up.

On a crisp, sunny morning just hours after Microsoft Corp announced a $44.6 billion bid for the Internet company, "Yahoos" at its Silicon Valley campus milled about with coffee cups outside the low-rise buildings.

One engineer taking a cigarette break in the grassy plaza in Sunnyvale, California, said Microsoft's move raised difficult questions for Yahoos. The woman, who was in her late 30s, would not give her name due to corporate rules against unauthorized contacts with reporters.

"Everyone sees Microsoft as the big octopus from '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' that wants to swallow everybody up," she said.

The Silicon Valley veteran said she had previously worked at Adobe Systems Inc, eBay Inc, Nortel and even Microsoft itself. "I really don't know," she said, when asked what it felt like to possibly work for Microsoft again.

Yahoo definitely sees itself as different from other companies. On its site for prospective employees it says, "We believe humor is essential to success. We applaud irreverence and don't take ourselves too seriously. We celebrate achievement. We yodel."

But the company has been singing the blues lately.

Some workers saw the Microsoft bid as a welcome vote of confidence in Yahoo, which has struggled against market leader Google Inc.

"It's really ambivalent here. A lot of people feel like the stock has taken such a battering, that to have renewed interest in us, that lifts spirits a bit," said one headquarters employee who was reached by phone.

A Yahoo technical employee said the other workers he had spoken to were "pretty measured" about the prospect of a takeover, and mergers were part of life in Silicon Valley.

"I have been through other integrations before at Yahoo," he said.

Several Yahoo employees said they believed Jerry Yang, the co-founder who took over as chief executive last June, would do what is best for the company and its employees.

"I trust Jerry to make the right decision," the former Microsoft employee said. "He inherited a big mess."

A former Yahoo vice president who left the company six months ago saw the Microsoft bid as a positive development for a company whose fortunes have soured.

"Morale has been so bad. They've been bombarded with bad news for the past two years," she said, adding that she had been communicating with Yahoo employees via instant messaging all day. "This looks to me like a positive option. I think they should go for it and I think they will."

The big question for many employees, however, was whether Yahoo's free-spirited, go-getting culture would be embraced by a decades-old tech giant.

"A lot of people feel like it would be a culture clash," said the employee interviewed over the phone. "There's a sense that over time Yahoo has moved away from its entrepreneurial roots. If we're acquired by Microsoft, we'd be moving even further away from that."

The former Yahoo VP agreed.

"There is a whole atmosphere of fun which they have tried to imbue in the culture. I would hope that wouldn't change," she said. "That is why they have been able to retain such amazing talent."

(Additional reporting by Dan Wilchins in New York and Jim Finkle in Boston)