VSNL sets up arm in Singapore

In line with its plans of becoming a global major, internet gateway and service provider Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) has set up a wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore, VSNL Singapore PTE Ltd, to facilitate the landing of cable in that country.

"The subsidiary will be involved with the operations of Tata Indicom's Chennai-Singapore submarine cable, which will be lighted up by the fourth quarter of 2004," VSNL sources said here today.

The company, set up on lines of VSNL's Sri Lanka (VSNL Lanka Ltd), US (VSNL America Inc) and Europe subsidiaries, would also be involved with the company's other plans, including wholesaling and retailing of bandwidth in that country.

The subsidiary, which came into being by February-end, would also help VSNL tap other markets in the region and expand to newer geographies across the world, he said.

Singapore had emerged as one of the four bandwidth hubs in the world and was the only location that serviced the international traffic for countries between Europe and the western coast of the US, he said.

With most of the developing countries lying in this region, Singapore is the prefered destination for all major undersea cables to either distribute or aggregate traffic for entire Asia-Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand, he added.

VSNL is also seeking an external gateway operator licence, which would help the Tata Group company to sell full circuits instead of the existing business model of selling half-circuits.

The full-circuit model is expected to increase the revenue of the company, he said.

Tata Indicom Chennai-Singapore cable system is scheduled to be ready for service by this fall, he said.

Tyco Telecommunications is VSNL's partner for the 3,175 km cable system, which has an initial capacity of 320 gbps and ability to scale up to 5.12 tbps.

With an estimated operating lifespan of 25 years, the new cable will connect chennai to singapore, from where it would be extended to us and other geographies.

VSNL had also tied-up with Asia Netcom for setting up a landing station in Singapore.