Tata to aid India's telecoms expansion
619459
(InfoWorld) - India's largest outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. has landed a US$140 million contract from India's large state-owned telecommunications services provider, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., for the deployment of next-generation networks in the country. The nine-year engagement with BSNL involves TCS setting up complex data networks across BSNL's operations in the north and west of India. The agreement also includes deploying operational support systems and business support systems components such as customer relationship management, billing, mediation, and directory inquiry, among others, TCS said Thursday. After a systems integration phase of two years, TCS will manage the operations for BSNL over the next seven years, said N. Chandrasekaran, TCS's head of global sales and operations. The Indian services market is growing, and even though billing rates on outsourcing contracts are lower than in markets in the U.S. and Europe where TCS operates, the costs are also lower, Chandrasekaran said. The contract with a large services provider like BSNL will help the company win systems integration and managed services contracts from telecommunications service providers in other markets, he added. India emerged in the first half of this year as the largest market for outsourcing services in the Asia-Pacific region, according to sourcing consultancy firm, Technology Partners International Inc. in Houston. TPI tracked contracts valued above $25 million for the survey. A number of multinational services companies like IBM Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. have focused on the Indian market, and won some large contracts. In the quarter ended June 30, TCS's revenue from the domestic market was only about 9 percent of total revenue but this share is expected to grow, Chandrasekaran said. The U.S. is the largest market for TCS accounting for over 51 percent of revenue, followed by the U.K. at about 21 percent. Indian outsourcers have typically focused on more lucrative markets in the U.S. and Europe instead of India, research firm Gartner Inc. said earlier this year. The growing Indian market and the appreciation of the Indian rupee against the U.S. dollar are now making domestic contracts more attractive to Indian companies.
91398
India, already the world&#039;s fastest  growing wireless services market, is set to become a handset  manufacturing and export hub as giants such as Nokia and LG  churn out millions of phones to tap voracious demand.
74224
The chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata has confirmed that he is interested in making a bid for Jaguar and Land Rover.
561970
Buying USinternetworking lets the telecom giant reach out and touch managed services.
290406
Indian outsourcing companies should expand their operations to other low-cost countries if they want to maintain their edge, experts said Thursday at an international software conference.
571663
The wireless service provider seeks growth in emerging markets.
508671
Telecoms giant Ericsson said Friday it has won a 1.3-billion-dollar (951-million-euro) contract to upgrade and expand Indian operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd&#39;s (BSNL) mobile network.
161065
British mobile phone giant Vodafone, grappling with intense competition in Europe, has tapped into the booming Indian economy after winning control of Hutchison Essar for 11.1 billion dollars.
644365
A combined PC, telephone and television is being used in aid projects in India.
714845
Whitbread, the leisure company that owns brands including Costa Coffee, says it plans to expand into India.
382236
(InfoWorld) - BT Group has been granted licenses to provide national and long-distance services in India as it seeks to carve out a bigger piece of the country's burgeoning telecoms market. The licenses from India's Department of Telecommunications allows BT's newly formed joint venture, BT Telecom India Pvt. Ltd., to sell services directly to corporate customers in India, BT said on Wednesday. Until now the company has been offering the services through an agreement with a local service provider. BT will offer virtual private network (VPN) services using technologies such as multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) and ATM (asynchronous transfer mode), it said. Multinationals providers includingÂ Verizon CommunicationsÂ have been applying for licenses to operate national and long-distance services in India. Two years ago the government increased the stake that a foreign company can hold in Indian telecoms provider, from 49 percent to 74 percent, which made investment more attractive. It also reduced license fees. India's booming telecoms market has been attracting investments to the country. In February, Vodafone Group announced anÂ agreement to acquire a 67 percent interestÂ in Indian mobile services provider Hutchison Essar. It hopes to cash in on India's mobile market, which is adding more than 6 million subscribers a month. A key opportunity for BT and other multinational providers is to offer services to the Indian operations of multinational companies, as well as to India's growing outsourcing industry. AT&T's majority-owned joint venture, AT&T Global Network Services India Pvt. Ltd., was awarded national and long distance licenses by the government last year. BT set up its Indian joint venture, in which it holds 74 percent of the equity, last year. Then in February it announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire i2i Enterprise Pvt. Ltd., an enterprise services company based in Mumbai that specializes in IP communications services. In September BT said it expected revenue from India to be $250 million by 2009, and that it would increase its headcount in the country by 6,000 within two years. The company signed aÂ five-year outsourcing contractÂ in December with Tech Mahindra to support BT's managed services for businesses around the globe, as well as BT's internal systems. It owns a minority share in the outsourcing company. Â
356077
Tata group chairman Ratan Tata today said he would visit Bangladesh next month to discuss with government representatives the groupâs plan to invest $2 billion to set up steel, power and fertiliser plants in the country.
746518
The government of Singapore and Telekom Malaysia have agreed to buy a 48 percent stake in Idea Cellular of India from three companies for $390 million to tap into India&#39;s wireless market.
361011
The Nielsen Company, a provider of consumer and media information services, is outsourcing a portion of its IT and business processes to Tata Consultancy Services&#160;(TCS), an Indian outsourcer based in Mumbai.
284702
Raketu Communications Inc. will add two new mobile phone features to its integrated communications, entertainment and social networking service in a move to attract consumers on the go.
229293
India's Tata Group is interested in acquiring Ford Motor Co's  Jaguar and Land Rover brands, the Indian conglomerate's chairman Ratan Tata said in remarks released on Friday.
478647
The company signs on an Indian cellular provider, looking to capitalize on the country's fast-growing wireless market.