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VSNL gets an image makeover as Tata Communications >

VSNL has rebranded as Tata Communications. VSNL’s parent is one of India’s largest companies with operations in industries including: steel, automotives, energy, communications, IT, consumer goods and hospitality.

“In India, Tata is one of the most widely known and respected brands. There are probably very
few people in the country that are not touched by the Tata Group in some way or the other,” said
Srinivasa Addepalli, SVP, corporate strategy at Tata Communications. “They are touched through
Tata’s business activities but more importantly through its social activities. The Tata Group is
widely recognised as one of the most trustworthy and ethical groups. In an economy that is rapidly growing where businesses are known to cut corners when it comes to
ethical practices and following the law and the spirit of the law, the Tata Group’s social
responsibility stands out.”

Tata Group is known as the “steel to salt organisation” because it is the largest
manufacturer of both commodities in India. VSNL will benefit from the company’s pervasive nature and increasing global profile. In early January, Tata Motors announced its low priced Tata Nano automobile and reaffirmed the group’s place on the world stage.

“We are also finding as we go out and speak to multinational customers that the Tata brand is
widely recognised globally because of the acquisitions that the Tata Group has made, “ said
Addepalli. “We believe the Tata brand is an association that is very useful for us. Tata Consultancy Services is already working with the Fortune 400 and Fortune 1000 corporates. That is another relationship we can leverage and the move to the Tata brand helps to increase that leverage.” VSNL has also increased its international reach with an investment in
the TGN Eurasia Cable System linking Mumbai directly to Paris, London and Madrid via Egypt. The cable system is being built in partnership with Seacom and Telecom Egypt, and will provide VSNL with 1.28Tbit of capacity on this route during 2009.

“This partnership approach makes sense in a lot of ways,” said Alan Mauldin, research director at Telegeography. “VSNL gets the capacity that they want and they don’t have to fund the entire build themselves. What VSNL has been experiencing is their capacity demand growing
rapidly and they want to get a lot of different options for their traffic.” Mauldin noted that VSNL is expanding its reach through the combination of consortium and private undersea cables and not
choosing a single method of investment in cable systems.

Published February 2008

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