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AOL heads for India
New portal aims to get attention of subcontinent's 45 million users

By Reuters

Published: Friday 27 April 2007

Time Warner's AOL internet unit will launch a version of its portal in India on Thursday, including sections devoted to Bollywood, cricket and international music.

As part of AOL's global expansion plans, the new site, AOL.in, will have tailored entertainment and news in English and offer many of the same features from its US site AOL.com, such as free access to email, instant messaging and mobile services.

Ahead of the official launch in Bangalore, Ron Grant, chief operating officer of AOL, stated: "India is one of the world's fastest-growing online markets and our India portal will help us compete for users and advertisers in this important region."

The launch comes after an overhaul of AOL's business model last summer, when it decided to give away most of its services for free to boost online advertising revenue. Its ad revenue is expected to grow on par with the overall market this year.

Underscoring the importance of India to its global expansion, AOL named Maneesh Dhir in January to oversee its international operations.

Citing a report from analyst firm Kaufman Brothers, AOL said the India market had about 45 million internet users in a population of 1.1 billion at the end of 2006.

The report projected the region's internet use could double to 94 million by 2008 and triple to 147 million by 2010.