Broadband
Net portal Lycos teams up with PermissionTV for online TV platform
MUMBAI: US net portal Lycos is working with the broadband TV platform PermissionTV to offer a variety of video programming to its 25 million visitors. PermissionTV is a system for media companies and content owners to distribute television programming via the Internet.
The two companies will team up to deliver a high quality TV entertainment solution to the nearly 25 million visitors to the Lycos Network of sites.
Lycos will use the PermissionTV platform to offer a variety of video programming to the Lycos audience. Lycos says that the deal reinforces its core strategy to provide consumers with quality video programming and entertainment enhanced with the interactivity of the web, and a platform for creators to showcase and market quality content.
Lycos CEO Alfred Tolle says, “We chose to work with PermissionTV because we considered it to be one of the most powerful broadband TV platforms available today, allowing us to offer high quality video to our end users that is television-centric, while providing our content partners their own customized channels with a completely unique look under the Lycos brand.
“By teaming with PermissionTV, Lycos is uniquely positioned to become a leader in the television internet space.” Lycos plans to leverage the PermissionTV platform to acquire a wide range of on-demand content from episodic television, to independent films and programming, to long-form films, providing a totally unique broadband based video experience.
PermissionTV CEO David Graves says, “The combination of Lycos’s reach, and PermissionTV’s advanced technology is an attractive proposition for video programmers who want to attract a large audience in the most compelling way. This platform makes it easy to get up and running, allowing content providers to build an audience for their own brands.”
For sponsors, the enhanced online programming offers exactly what they have been seeking: the targetability of web advertising with content that fit expectations of traditional TV viewers. With the PermissionTV platform, Lycos is able to offer media companies and content owners a new distribution channel with subscription, advertising or VOD (video on demand) packaging options. Advertisers get a robust and cost-effective way of reaching potential buyers, while viewers get a controllable on-demand viewing experience that feels like TV.
Tolle adds, “The era of merging the interactivity of the Web with traditional broadcast television programming is here. Lycos can bring an instant audience, immediate distribution and traffic, and consistently re- engage our users with new content, making this platform particularly attractive to content partners and advertisers alike.”
The first programming kicked off on 9 June 2006 with the launch of Lycos’ behind- the-scenes video coverage of the soccer World Cup. For the remainder of World Cup, Lycos will give an insider’s look at World Cup culture, featuring exclusive video from embedded Lycos videographers on the front lines, available only at worldcup.lycos.com and powered by PermissionTV. Additional programming will be launched in the coming weeks, including branded television- and movie- related offerings that lend themselves to mainstream audience demand.
Broadband
Tejas Networks names Arnob Roy as MD and CEO, overhauls top leadership team
The Bengaluru-based telecom gear maker reshuffles its entire top team even as quarterly revenue collapses by 83 per cent
BENGALURU: Tejas Networks is changing the guard at the top, and doing so at speed. The Bengaluru-headquartered telecom equipment maker has elevated Arnob Roy as managing director and chief executive officer, effective April 15, 2026, for a term running through to August 3, 2028, and in the same breath announced new appointments across operations and finance. The timing is pointed: the company is navigating one of the roughest patches in its recent history.
Roy steps up from his role as executive director and chief operating officer, a position he has held since March 2019. He brings more than three decades of experience in the high-technology sector across research and development, operations, and sales. His predecessor, Anand Athreya, resigned last year citing personal reasons and was relieved on June 20, 2025, leaving a gap at the top that has now been formally filled.
The numbers Roy inherits are sobering. Tejas posted a net loss of Rs 211.3 crore in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, a near-194 per cent widening year on year from Rs 71.8 crore in the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter collapsed 82.6 per cent year on year to Rs 333 crore, down from Rs 1,907 crore. EBITDA swung to a loss of Rs 118.2 crore against a profit of Rs 121.5 crore a year ago. The culprit is not hard to identify: Tejas has derived the bulk of its revenue from BSNL’s fourth-generation network project, delivered as part of a Tata Consultancy Services-driven consortium, and that roll-out is now winding down.
Roy, speaking during a post-earnings conference call with analysts, was candid about where the company has been. “The BSNL 4G network went live across 100,000 sites. We deployed our largest indigenous router networks in the country through the BSNL MAN network, as well as in the BharatNet Phase 3 network,” he said, adding that Tejas had also successfully rolled out its 400G and 800G DWDM equipment in domestic and international markets, and continued the deployment of what it describes as the world’s largest satellite IoT network through its vehicle tracking system solution.
The pivot to new revenue streams is already under way. Tejas has partnered with Japan’s Rakuten Symphony and NEC Corporation to push deeper into international markets, with several Open Radio Access Network trials ongoing, one of which concluded recently. The company is also diversifying across equipment categories and geographies to sustain momentum as the BSNL chapter closes.
To prosecute that strategy, Roy needs a full team around him. Preetham Uthaiah has been appointed chief operating officer, moving up from his current role as vice president of product management for wireless products at Tejas Networks. Uthaiah brings nearly 30 years of global experience spanning engineering, product management, and business development across India and the United States. Before joining Tejas Networks, he served as executive vice president of product management, marketing, and strategy at Saankhya Labs, and held senior roles at Tech Mahindra on both sides of the Atlantic. He holds an MBA from Arizona State University and a degree in electronics and communications from Karnatak University.
On the finance front, AVS Prasad has been approved as chief financial officer, effective May 16, 2026, succeeding Sumit Dhingra, who has resigned. Prasad, currently serving as finance controller at Tejas Networks, brings over 27 years of experience within the Tata Group across telecom, aerostructures, and defence. A company secretary and cost and management accountant by training, he has spent more than 15 years in senior finance roles including CFO and financial controller positions, with expertise spanning corporate finance, treasury management, regulatory compliance, internal audit, and governance.
New chief executive, new chief operating officer, new chief financial officer — all installed in a single move, at a moment when the company’s largest revenue source is drying up and the next chapter remains unwritten. Tejas Networks has placed its bets. Now it has to deliver.
