| [August 18, 2008] |
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Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai Partners with Sify Technologies
CHENNAI, India --(Business Wire)-- Sify Technologies Limited (NASDAQ:SIFY), a leader in Consumer Internet and Enterprise Services in India with global delivery capabilities, announced today its partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), the country's first and largest municipal corporation.
This partnership will enable MCGM to leverage Sify's ePort cyber cafe chain in Mumbai to provide online services to Mumbai's citizens including:
--Payment of water tax and property tax,
--Renewing shop and establishment licenses,
--Applying for birth and death certificates,
--Applying for health licenses,
--Registering complaints and tracking the status of complaints
Mumbai's citizens can now visit any of the 250 e-port cafes in the city to access these facilities online. The city's ePort's will function as civic service centres for the MCGM, so citizens need not have a Sify account for availing of these services.
Commenting on this partnership, Naresh Ajwani, President - Consumer Infrastructure & Operations, Sify Technologies Ltd, said, "This partnership is aimed at making the lives of the citizens of greater Mumbai easier with convenient access to online services from a nearby ePort. This is a reiteration of the trust reposed in us by the public and public institutions such as MCGM in being associated with us. They see the advantages of partnering with the largest branded retail chain in the country and trust us for our dependable infrastructure and delivery systems. Sify is the only Internet company in the country to have wide spread reach in terms of number of retail outlets, reliable IT infrastructure and robust backend systems within cities and across the country. We hope this will be the first of many such partnerships to improve the lives of the citizens of the country."
"The advantages of such a partnership are many, and accrue to all stakeholders -- the MCGM, citizens, the cyber cafe industry and business & industry. For the MCGM, access to their services online is available round the clock and all seven days of the week; Citizens do not have to travel to the corporation office, nor do they have to wait in long queues anymore; as these services are accessed widely, the cyber cafe industry will be perceived to be an enabler of convenient online access to multiple services making the Internet available for all; and business and industry will benefit from increased productivity as staff need no longer take time off to complete such chores. Such partnerships are therefore a winning proposition for everyone concerned, and we are very happy to be pioneering such a model," he added.
Citizens need only follow a simple 4 step procedure to access MCGM's services:
1) Carry the bill or reference number to the Sify e-port
2) The cafe host logs on to the MCGM website at www.mcgm.gov and confirms the bill/ name/ amount
3) The cafe host accepts the money and pays online on behalf of the citizen
4) The citizen is given the print out of the receipt
So citizens need not be familiar with computers or using the Internet to use MCGM's online services.
At present there are 40 million bills being paid annually in Mumbai alone towards property tax, water tax, birth and death certificates, licenses etc. This facility enables Sify's ePorts to function as Multi Service Centers (MSCs) for large public and private organizations, and paves the way for more such partnerships to serve the country's citizens.
About Sify
Sify is among the largest Managed Enterprise and Consumer Internet Services companies in India, offering end-to-end solutions with a comprehensive range of products delivered over a common telecom data network infrastructure reaching 500+ 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, enterprise applications and hosting. Sify is recognized as an ISO 9001:2000 certified service provider for network operations, data center operations and customer support, and for provisioning of VPNs, Internet bandwidth, VoIP solutions and integrated security solutions, and ISO 27001 certified for Internet Data Center operations. Sify has licenses to operate NLD (National Long Distance) and ILD (International Long Distance) services and offers VoIP back haul to long distance subscriber telephony services. The company is India's first enterprise managed services provider to launch a Security Operations Center (SOC) to deliver managed security services. A host of blue chip customers use Sify's corporate service offerings.
Consumer services include broadband home access, dial up connectivity and the e-port cyber cafe chain across 180 cities and towns. Sify.com the consumer portal of Sify has sub portals like www.samachar.com, www.walletwatch.com, www.sifymax.com and www.chennailive.in, www.bangalorelive.in, www.mumbailive.in, www.hyderabadlive.in the city based live video on the web. The content is available in 5 Indian languages, which include Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil.
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, 2007 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.
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