Bt-Vsnl Venture To Have Rs 1600 Cr Equity Base

The proposed joint venture between British Telecom (BT) and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) - to be discussed by the full telecom commission today will be entirely funded through an equity of Rs 1,600 crore in the initial years.

BT and VSNL will each hold 40 per cent in the venture with the remaining 20 per cent being shared equally between a Japanese and Indian investor. These investors have not been finalised.

Sources said Nippon Tele-phone Telegraph of Japan and the Mahindra group are among those with whom discussions are being held. The proposed venture is to develop India into a regional hub for voice and data traffic.

 

The project enivisages the setting up of a high-capacity fibre optic cable from Karachi to Calcutta to carry traffic from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and perhaps Mauritius and Pakistan.

The submarine cable is to have landing points in Mumbai, Ernakulam and Calcutta with spurs or offshoots running off to Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar. About five per cent of regional traffic is expected to be routed through this venture.

This is estimated to translate into cumulative revenues of Rs 3,000 crore in foreign exchange over a ten-year period.

The revenue-sharing of this `transit turnover was to have been worked out on a 90:10 per cent basis in favour of VSNL. Apart from this, the venture will also garner revenues by way of leasing or renting circuits to the telecom administrations of other countries.