Telstra, Tata ink Indian interconnection
- 07 October, 2014 10:36
Telstra will expand further into India through an agreement with telecom provider Tata Communications.
The network-to-network interconnection (NNI) agreement gives Telstra access to Tata’s 116 points of presence (PoPs), extending the Australian telco’s reach to tier-2 and tier-3 Indian cities including Jaipur, Surat and Trichy.
Telstra said that access to Tata’s domestic infrastructure and subsea fibre network will bring reduced latency and increased network availability.
Telstra and Tata did not disclose the terms of the agreement.
The agreement is part of Telstra’s broader strategy to expand into Asia.
Telstra’s Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) plan includes NNI agreements in high-value emerging markets and expansion of its own on-net PoPs.
“The latest estimates from a PricewaterhouseCoopers report predict India is set to become the third largest economy in the world by 2030,” said Bernadette Baldwin, head of connectivity and platforms for Telstra Global Enterprise. She cited a PwC report from July.
“When you combine this with its young and burgeoning working-age population, you’ve got a compelling consumption boom and a competitive edge that sets Asia's third-largest economy apart from many other countries,” she said.
“With these economic and social indicators in mind, we’re seeing demand for data connectivity throughout India grow as an increasing number of Asian, European and American headquartered businesses look to India for long-term growth opportunities.”
The deal follows a joint venture agreement with Telkom Indonesia in late August. That deal allowed Telstra to sell cloud, unified communications, managed network and security services in Indonesia.
Adam Bender covers telco and enterprise tech issues for Computerworld and is the author of dystopian sci-fi novels We, The Watched and Divided We Fall. Follow him on Twitter: @WatchAdam
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