Mumbai, September 27, 2000 : http://www.123India.com/, India's Premier Portal will be launching fifteen city-specific portals as part of its strategy to build regional web communities. The portal, which has been rated among the top 5 websites in the world by Alexa has chosen Delhi to kick off its ambitious localisation strategy with a Delhi-specific portal to be launched shortly.

Even as it plans to go regional with its city-specific portals, 123India.com is already on the path to becoming India's Premier Mobile Portal. With the implementation of its WAP-enabled services underway, 123India.com will now offer a value-for-time proposition to its users with the aggregation of a host of services such as email, calendar, instant messaging and instant information.

With plans on the anvil of launching 14 new channels in the next six weeks, India's premier portal is indeed on the super fast track. As Dhruv Sharma, CEO, 123India.com puts it, “Time is just right for an aggressive introduction of new channels on such a scale. On one hand, we have the critical mass of customers with us, who will gain by these new introductions and on the other hand we will definitely attract new visitors who have specific interest in the new services which we are launching.”

With the Internet expanding prolifically, 123India.com recognises the growing need to build regional communities, especially in a federation of diverse states such as India. As a first step in this direction 123India.complans to regionalise its offering by setting up city-specific portals that would provide strong regional content in both English and the regional language. Beginning with Delhi, 123India.com will be launching 15 city-specific portals. The route that 123India.com plans to adopt is to enter into regional partnerships with the Best of Breed local content providers in each region. This is in keeping with 123India.com's vision of a being a global portal that is sensitive to regional tastes.

123India.com’s commitment to be the country's premier portal, translates into constantly adding value to its users by providing them with the latest that technology has to offer. 123India.com has tied up with Wabot.com as WAP technology partners where WABOT would be enabling 123India.com services on to Mobile Devices. Users can now configure their Mobile Handsets to the 123India.com WAP Gateway and have access to this Premier Portal.

123India.com users will now be able to avail of a host of services through their WAP enabled devices such as: Send, receive, forward and read e-mails online
Read the top stories in business, regional news, world news and sports with a section dedicated to cricket
Get the latest stock index quotes from both the BSE and NSE with links to related business news
Horoscopes with daily predictions for the various sun signs and the love, work and communication meter
4-day weather forecasts for all the major cities in the sub-continent
Jokes- a new laugh with each click on the link

123India.com is also enhancing its Online Communications with the “Must Have” Internet Messaging technology. With a wide community of 1 million email registered Indian users, 123India.com believes that this shall enhance instant communication across this wide network.

123India.com's management approach of being the first to evaluate opportunities but making the move when the time is appropriate is a very deliberate strategy. This deliberate gameplan has seen 123India.com grow from strength to strength to become India' s premier portal. Having made massive investments to establish a highly scalable backroom architecture and having built a substantial user base and traffic with 1.2 Million registered users, 2.75 million unique visitors and 85 million page views, 123India.com now feels the time is ripe to launch a slew of new channels. Within the next 6 weeks 123India.com will be launching 14 new channels:

1. Environment
2. Men
3. Women
4. Careers
5. Education
6. Restaurants
7. Yellow pages
8. Games
9. T.V.
10.Radio
11.Matrimonials
12.Personal Loans
13.Travel
14. Auto

These channels have been chosen taking into consideration the growing demand of specific communities and the availability of high quality content. With this 123India.com will nearly double its content, providing enhanced services to its users and, in the process nearly double its viewership.  

About 123India.com:
123India.com, India's Premier Portal, is an India dedicated Internet media site that offers branded web content, serving Indians worldwide. As the leading Indian online navigational guide to the web, 123India.com is one of the largest guides in terms of users, database and reach amongst the Indian community on the Internet. Visit us at www.123india.com.