Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT Broadband), provider of fibre-to-home technology, is expanding its presence in the wired broadband category.

The Bangalore-based company is taking on large players such as BSNL, MTNL and Airtel by providing high speed Internet connection to customers.

“We are now the fourth largest Internet Service Provider in the wired broadband category. We hope to have one million broadband subscribers in the next 18 months from the present half a million,” Bala Malladi, Group CEO of the ACT Group, told BusinessLine .

Funded by India Value Fund Advisor, which is a majority shareholder in the company, ACT’s clients include Biocon, Radio City, HDFC Bank, Meru, Mahindra Holiday and TTK Healthcare, he said.

A business that started off with 30,000 subscribers five years ago has now reached half a million broadband subscribers. The company’s strength is its commitment to provide high-speed, high-download broadband usage. With the recent launch of the 60 Mbps plan, Malladi claimed this was fastest speed provided by any service provider in the retail segment. ACT is a triple play service provider with its customers experiencing broadband, digital TV and Internet Protocol television services.

According to Malladi, the company has so far invested around ₹800 crore in the venture, and will infuse more money to achieve the one million subscriber milestone.

The company is present in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Nellore, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Chennai. It turns small cable companies into partners by providing them infrastructure and resources.