Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Sify Limited (Nasdaq: SIFY), a leader in Consumer Internet and Enterprise Services in India with global delivery capabilities, announced that the number of hours of its games played online at its iWay cyber cafe chain grew by over 100% during the last financial year. The number of PCs at these cafes for online games doubled to 6000 during this period.
According to a report and forecast by San Francisco-based analyst and consulting firm Pearl Research, the online games market in India will exceed $200 million by 2010. The report indicates growth of the online games market in India is being driven by the rapid adoption of the Internet; increasing broadband penetration; growth in Internet cafes; and a sizable middle-class with rising disposable income. The report also cites that game operators are promoting and educating consumers about online games.
Commenting on the rapid growth of games at iWays, Mr Sushil Luniya, Vice President- Access Media, Sify, said, "We are growing the online games market in India by providing highly popular games such as Counter Strike at the iWays in agreement with the games creator, as well as CD based games. Players are then graduated to true online games such as A3, Sify's MMORPG game customized for the Indian audience, to provide the online game playing experience".
Today, over two thirds of Sify's 3300 cafes across the country offer players the opportunity to play games online on 6000 games enabled PCs. This reach, coupled with the fast growing base of Sify broadband subscribers, gives Sify the opportunity to grow the market for online games in India. In addition to making online games widely available at iWays across the country, the strategy for A3 is to promote the game intensively in a city to rapidly grow the user base, then replicate the experience in other cities.
This is done with on ground promotions, as well as contests where both experienced players and new players battle it out for top honors. To enable inter-cafe and inter-city competition, Sify has invested in dedicated servers so that the games played are over Sify's network infrastructure.This ensures low latency and gives players a LAN like experience in terms of the speed and quality of the games.
Sify's agreement for the Counter Strike series, one of the world's most popular First Person Shooter (FPS) games, enables a player at an iWay cafe to play with anybody in the world by connecting to international servers. In addition, Sify's online 3D MMORPG game A3, currently in the open beta stage, is expected to go into the commercial stage by the middle of this year.
Sify plans to run customer acquisition programs at its iWays during summer to capitalize on the holiday season. The company has recruited experts in online games to provide training and motivation to the many amateurs walking into the cafes to try their hand at playing games online as a leisure activity.
About Sify Limited:
Sify is among the largest Internet, network and e-Commerce services companies in India, offering end-to-end solutions with a comprehensive range of products delivered over a common Internet backbone infrastructure. This Internet backbone reaches 171 cities and towns in India. A significant part of the company's revenue is derived from Corporate Services, which include corporate connectivity, network and communications solutions, security, network management services and hosting. A host of blue chip customers use Sify's corporate service offerings. Consumer services include broadband home access, dial up connectivity and the iWay cyber cafe chain across 153 cities and towns. The company's network services, data center operations and customer relationship management are accredited ISO 9001:2000.
For more information about Sify, visit www.sifycorp.com.
Forward Looking Statements:
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Sify undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements.
For a discussion of the risks associated with Sify's business, please see the discussion under the caption "Risks Related to Our Business" in the company's report on Form 6-K for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 which has been filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and is available by accessing the database maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov.
Mr. David Appasamy, Sify Limited, +91 (044) 2254 0770 Ext. 2013 david_appasamy@sifycorp.com
Truc Nguyen, The Global Consulting Group, 646-284-9418 tnguyen@hfgcg.com
Source: Sify Limited (Business Wire India)
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