Airtel gets nod to offer services in Singapore

Bharti Airtel has received a Facilities-Based Operator (FBO) licence in Singapore that permits the company to offer global voice and data services in that country. The licence was awarded to the company's subsidiary Bharti Airtel (Singapore).

Bharti Airtel President (Enterprise Services) David Nishball said, "The FBO licence is an important step in meeting customers' complete global communication needs."

To create a global presence and increase revenues from offshore locations, Indian telecom companies are looking at commencing operations in foreign countries.

While Bharti Airtel has operations in Sri Lanka, Tata group-controlled VSNL has commenced services from Sri Lanka and Nepal, and is close to offering services in South Africa. State-owned MTNL is also scouting for global licences, including Sri Lanka and Kenya.

Bharti Airtel will set up a point of presence (PoP) in Singapore for cable interconnection and providing connectivity to service providers and local carriers. The PoP would enable the company to integrate its cables with other service providers in Singapore to offer connectivity options, it said in a release.

This licence will support Airtel's portfolio of international voice and data services, including private lines, internet, managed private-leased line services, long distance, toll-free services and mobile roaming.

At present, multi cable systems such as Network i2i, Se-Me-We-4, Asia America Gateway, APCN2, EAC and C2C aggregate at Singapore, making the country the interconnection hub for Airtel traffic between India and over 90 countries around the world.

Nishball said, "Our customers can now enjoy enhanced reliability and quality, using the best of our own capabilities and strong partnerships with international carriers, particularly SingTel with whom we have a preferred partnership arrangement."

With Singapore becoming a network aggregation hub for the multiple cable systems in our network, we will be able to offer to our customers increased redundancy and a more resilient network." Singapore Telecom (SingTel) holds 31 per cent stake in Airtel.