Tata Internet May Be Merged Into Vsnl

The Tata group is planning to merge Tata Internet, its Internet service company, into the newly acquired Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL). The group is looking into the issues involved in synergising operations of the two companies, Tata group officials said.

The Tatas have already set up a team of executives to suggest measures to integrate the operations. The team is to submit its report shortly. The group was earlier considering merging Tata Internet into Tata Teleservices to bring the Tatas' voice and data communication services under one roof.

However, there has been a change of plans with the recent acquisition of VSNL. The Tata group now wants to leverage the benefit of having the country's largest Internet service providing company. "It is expensive to have two companies providing the same service," a senior official said.

 

"If you compare the two companies, VSNL is by far the larger one. We are looking for a way to bring all the Internet services into the VSNL fold. We have already started working on it," the official added.

The team is expected to work out a plan to clean up the often conflicting hardware and software in the two companies before work begins on the integration. "Although both the companies have the same operations, the back-end applications and billing systems are different. So are a few other systems. The team will give us a preview of the integrated operations of Tata Internet with VSNL," the official said.

The Tata group had invested Rs 120-150 crore in Tata Internet, he said. The company offers Internet access to retail and corporate clients, besides running public access systems. It also offers networking and data-centre based services to corporate houses. Tata Internet was promoted by Tata Industries and Tata Teleservices, and had about 150,000 subscribers across the country, the official claimed.