iPass Surges In Asia, Prioritizes China and India

iPass Inc., the San Francisco-based Internet roaming giant, plans to enhance its dominant position in Asia and prioritize untapped markets in China and India.

“We are continuing to expand our partnerships in Asia with ISP telcos and ISPs,” said Jason Ma, iPass managing director for Asia Pacific. “These ISPs have to rely on iPass to provide true global coverage and a seamless connection.”

iPass currently has over 70 partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region including ISPs and carriers in Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

In two years, iPass has captured most of the large providers in these markets.

The Internet roaming enabler is now working deals with ISPs and carriers in the world’s two largest developing markets, China and India.

“China is a real strategic priority and we want to provide the best possible service there,” Chris Moore, the president and CEO of iPass Inc, told InternetNews.

“We are working actively with China Telecom and they are testing the software,” said Ma. “Today, we have five POPs (points of presence) set up in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzen and Wuhan.”

“We are very excited about India–VSNL (a large government-owned ISP) is a partner of ours,” said Ma. “I’m expecting over the next 45 days to have POPs up and running.”

Moore pointed out that providing a reliable international data connection in India was quite significant particularly since it is still difficult to get a reliable IDD connection in India.


iPass provides its global dial-up services through buying Internet access on a pay-per-use basis through a network infrastructure of ISPs, telecommunication carriers, and data networks around the world and profits by reselling global Internet access to ISPs and corporations.

“Everybody has natural gaps in their coverage and we fill these gaps,” said Moore. “We also provide redundancy which no ISPs can.”

Moreover, according to Moore, iPass service enables international ISPs to have real-time account and bill settlement capabilities without having to spend on resources.

The long term strategy of the company is to continue to develop a dominant position in global Internet roaming as well as strengthening its role as a provider of corporate remote access and cross network settlement/clearinghouse services.

The idea behind iPass was actually conceived in Asia by Chris Moore who, in part, set the business plan in motion when he was based in Hong Kong in 1996.

Since October 1996, when it’s service was started, iPass has acquired a large chunk of the global Internet roaming market with over 550 active ISP and carrier partners.

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