BT & AT&T gears up for Indian telecoms market

Stuart Corner
Monday, 13 November 2006 16:15

IT Industry - Strategy

BT has lodged applications today with the Indian Department of Telecommunications for national long distance and international long distance licenses. According to BT, "when granted, the licenses will enable the newly-formed joint venture company to offer services for the first time directly to multisite corporate customers in the Indian market. Previously, BT assisted its customers wanting connectivity to India through an arrangement it has with a third party local licensed operator."

Said Andy Green, CEO of BT Global Services: "Establishing and managing our own operations in India is a landmark development. With these licenses and planned investment, we will be able to provide the same high levels of services in Bangalore as we do in Boston, and in Mumbai as we do in Madrid. This will allow our India customers access to a BT managed network which is connected to BT's comprehensive global network across Asia Pacific, Europe and North America."

BT's initial intention is to provide both domestic and international managed services to corporate customers who have sites in India. It will provide these companies with virtual private network-based (VPN) services using technologies such as ATM and internet protocol-based multi-protocol label switching (MPLS).

According to Green, BT has strong growth plans for its Indian operations, predicting that its revenues from India will be US$250 million by 2009. BT employs over 15,000 people in Asia Pacific (both directly and indirectly), of which the majority are based in India. BT is looking to increase its Indian employee strength by hiring an additional 6,000 people within the next two years.