Officials of the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) came to the city on Friday to conduct a feasibility study on the opening of an exchange, the ninth in the country, to convert the State’s largest commercial hub into an IT-investment destination.
Nikhil, Business Development Manager, and Abhishek, Technical Manager, from NIXI, New Delhi, interacted with the representatives of the IT Association of AP (ITAAP), STPI, leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs), GITAM Deemed to be University and Gayatri Group of Educational Institutions.
The NIXI team seemed to be convinced about the potential of the city and positive to the setting up of an exchange here.
IT hub
ITAAP president Narayana and chairman of the advisory board Naresh Kumar informed the team that there were over 150 IT companies in the city and 13,000 new seats allotted to the city under the BPO scheme of the Government of India.
The 9th richest city in India as per the GDP figures, Visakhapatnam is home to a large number of PSUs such as Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, HPCL, and NTPC. Besides, it is also the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command (ENC).
Bulk consumers
The team was also informed that bulk consumers such as the APEPDCL, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), banks and the Railways would require high quality Internet.
Mr. Naresh also informed the NIXI officials that Visakhapatnam was home to 13,000 registered MSME units and they had to go digital for filing GST and TDS returns. They would benefit with low-cost and high quality Internet, he said.
The NIXI officials said if all the ISPs connect to their data centre, the cost would reduce by 30% to 40%, depending on the number of members. They said the NIXI exchange could be located on the STPI premises if the IT Department agreed.
