Date:12/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/09/12/stories/2007091252380400.htm

Back BT expands network; targets Indian MNCs

To hire 6,000 people by next year

Ramesh Sharma

Mr Arun Seth (right), Chairman, BT India, and Mr Deepakjit Chatrath, General Manager MEA & Asia Pacific, Media & Broadcast, BT, at a press conference, in the Capital on Tuesday. —

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Sept. 11 Eyeing revenues of $250 million from India by 2009, global communications services company BT has expanded its reach within the country to 14 cities.

The company, which had recently launched its international voice and data services, will hire 6,000 people by next year as it expands its operations in India.

Announcing this Mr Allen Ma, President, BT Asia Pacific, said: “With our increased presence in India we are gearing up to gain access to Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Our greatest challenge in India is to ensure that our services and operations exceed customers’ satisfaction. Our plans for India are well on track and we are poised to reach the $250-million target revenue from India by 2009.”

Connecting points

BT nodes are now in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. An additional one is coming up in Kolkata. With 14 connecting points in India, the company claims that it has the highest by any global service provider. The network in India will also be utilised to extend network services to neighbouring Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka by April 2008.

Indian MNCs targeted

The expansion is primarily targeted at Indian multinational companies which require global connectivity. At present, BT has more than 300 customers in India, most of which are foreign multinational companies.

“With leadership position in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector firmly established, BT is now extending its horizon to Indian multinationals going global with specific focus on Banking, Financial services, Media, Broadcast, Pharmaceuticals, IT and Hospitality sectors. The challenge for BT in India is to stay ahead of the game. With our licences, we can now provide local billing and service management for multi-site corporate customers in Asia-Pacific from our Customer Network Management Centre in Pune,” the BT India Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Arun Seth, said.

ILD segment

Indian international long distance segment is heating up with as many as four new players entering the fray. Large multinational telecom carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and Cable and Wireless are also eyeing a larger share of the managed leased line market.

The demand for international bandwidth is primarily being driven by the growth of Indian economy which is in turn is encouraging foreign companies to set up base in the country on one hand and on the other Indian enterprises are foraying into other markets.