The group chairman of BBS Holdings Access could see a money-spinner connecting phone and Internet users in Iran to the local telephone exchange via the Wireless Local Loop (WLL) network. It is a less costly alternative compared with the traditional copper wireline network.

He started BBS Access in 1999 to provide this service to developing countries, adding it to the stable of companies under BBS Holdings.

The then-National Science & Technology Board (now A*Star) gave it a $4.2 million grant, helping the company kickstart its operations.

Today, BBS Access, one of the winners of this year's e50.start-up Awards, dominates the WLL projects in Iran with about 95 per cent market share.

The company has also started developing the WLL business in other developing countries such as Pakistan, Laos and Indonesia.

"Connectivity for voice and data is what developing countries require the most," said Mr Gholamrezaey.

"What's happening to today is that telecom network providers are simply struggling to meet demand."

BBS Access' mantra is to focus on developing countries where a relatively small percentage of homes are wired up for telephony services.

The cost of providing connectivity via a traditional copper wireline network is prohibitive in terms of costs and time.

On the other hand, a WLL network, which is based on radio technology, is faster to deploy and has lower incremental costs.

The company, which has invested $12 million so far in licensing, equipment and research and development, broke even earlier this year.

It expects to post a profit of $15 million in the 12 months ending January 2004 on revenue of $50 million.

Over the next five years, it will spend about $25 million on research and development. It is targeting revenue and profit growth of 50 per cent per annum over the same period.

Growth will be boosted by new orders from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan where there are several areas that currently are not linked up for basic telephony services.

Mr Gholamrezaey noted: "The business opportunities are growing faster than what we had forecast."

He attributed the success of the company to a clear vision and being committed to a business plan.

"We had the required vision towards the future needs in the market, and that was a reliable WLL systems soluion for developing countries where there is extremely high demand in connectivity for voice and data," he added.

The group's distribution division under BBS Electronics supplies electronic parts used for manufacturing WLL systems by BBS Access.

BBS Access aims to be a global player in WLL services, competing with giants such as Alcatel, Lucent, Nortel, Ericsson and Siemens.

It has offices in Singapore, Iran and Thailand, employing about 65 people in total.

Mr Gholamrezaey said: "We are committed to staying focused on doing what we are good at.