Tata Communications transforming itself into a technology company, says CEO

Lakshminarayanan says AI and data-driven products will power future growth as firm stays on track to hit $1 billion revenue target by FY28

Tata Communications is well on its trajectory of transforming into a truly technology company and does not want to be stuck being a networking and communications infrastructure solutions provider, chief executive officer (CEO) AS Lakshminarayanan said.

 

“It is great to see that pivot playing out and those will be accelerators of revenue for us in the future. We are investing in the right areas and set of products. We need to invest more in sales and marketing, and we will do that once the conditions ease up,” Lakshminarayanan added.

 

The company on Wednesday reported a net profit of ₹183 crore in the July-September quarter of 2025-26, compared to ₹251 crore in the same period a year ago. This net profit was despite a modest 6.5 per cent increase in gross revenue to ₹6,100 crore, driven primarily by a 7.3 per cent rise in data revenue.

 

For April-June of the current financial year, the company had reported a 43 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) decline in net profit to ₹190 crore, amid a 6.5 per cent increase in consolidated income to ₹5,959.85 crore. Data revenue has also grown nearly 10 per cent to ₹5,130 crore. 

 

Overall, the technology macro environment for the company, particularly driven by artificial intelligence (AI), is likely to see lots of investment as Tata Communications looks to ride the AI wave, he said.

 

“The next five years are going to determine the next 50 years for any company. If they miss out, they are going to be lagging behind quite a bit,” he said.

 

The company is also sticking to its target of achieving $1 billion revenue by 2027-28 and is hopeful of completing it despite the macroeconomic headwinds, Lakshminarayanan said.

 

He added that some recent global developments on trade disputes and easing of wars “make it a lot more smoother” for companies to move forward.

 

Tata Communications has also started doing several proof-of-concepts for the new agentic AI-powered Voice AI platform.

 

It had launched this earlier in the month for its banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) clients, he said.