VSNL, Asia Netcom ink strategic deal

VSNL, the long distance service provider, has entered into strategic partnership with Asia Netcom, to provide a landing station for its Tata Indicom India-Singapore submarine cable in Singapore.

The $ 100 mn Tata Indicom cable system, connecting Chennai and Singapore, will be ready for service by the fourth quarter of 2004.

SK Gupta, managing director of VSNL said, "the new partnership offers our domestic customers a cost-effective bandwidth solution to Trans-Pacific routes over Asia Netcom's EAC cable system, or all the way to the US and Europe".

"The new arrangement will help us package an end-to-end range of bandwidth solutions for our corporate customers. While there will be an interconnect with cable systems in Singapore, Asia Netcom would also double up as a customer for the cable system", he added.

N Srinath, director operations, VSNL said, it will open up opportunities for Tata Indicom cable to connect to Europe and the US.

In a presentation, VS Sridhar, head- corporate business, said that there is a growing demand for not only internet bandwidth by carriers and enterprises, but also to manage their services.

"This alliance will enable VSNL to provide managed data network services over the cable system", he added.

The submarine cable system will have an initial capacity of 320 Gbps with the ability to scale up to its design capacity of 5.12 Tbps.

The alliance will result in higher bandwidth to cater to the needs of the growing business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT-enabled services in the country.

"VSNL will provide full-circuit to Asia-Pacific and the US compared with its present status of providing half-circuits. This will enhance the company's revenues in the near to long-term basis," Sridhar added.

William Barney, president and chief operating officer, Asia Netcom said, "this is the first time a large Indian company has tied up with a Chinese firm".

He added that the new project will provide an opportunity to connect to the growing BPO market in the India.

VSNL and Asia Netcom had earlier entered into a bilateral agreement to deliver international private line services to Indian corporates and carriers over EAC, Asia Netcom's wholly-owned pan-Asian submarine and terrestrial cable system.

Additional trans-pacific capacity on the Tyco cable system is also available through Asia Netcom, giving Indian corporations a one-stop shop service for end-to end connectivity solutions between the Indian subcontinent and the US and Europe.