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| Sunday, 03 August 2003 |
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Indian telecom company offers Long Distance services by Pelham Juriansz VSNL Lanka Ltd (VLL), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), the Indian provider of International Long Distance (ILD), National Long Distance, Corporate Data, Internet and other value added telecommunication services, signed an agreement with the Board of Investment (BoI) last week to provide its services to Sri Lanka. The agreement follows VSNL being granted an External Gateway Operator (EGO) licence for a US$ 50,000 fee. The company will initially offer ILD telephony services in Sri Lanka and in due course, extend its services. S.K. Gupta, Managing Director VSNL, speaking at the signing of the agreement, said: "VSNL is a US$ 1.6 billion company that has emerged as a telecom superpower in India with relationships with 85 carriers across the globe". N. Srinath, Director Operations, VSNL said they are installing a modern switch that will enable the company to offer superior toll quality ILD services to Sri Lankans. The company's ability to route traffic through VSNL's existing global infrastructure would give it the advantage of delivering superior quality voice services to Lankan customers, he said. Arjuna Mahendran, Chairman BoI, said VSNL's investment is easily the largest Indian investment in Sri Lanka and is a superb platform for India. VSNL has over 12 gateways, 48 earth stations and five operational undersea cable systems, and is among the founder signatories of six submarine cable systems. VSNL is part of the TATA Group of Companies with Panatone Finvest Limited (investment vehicle of the Tata Group) owning about 45 per cent of the equity. The Tata Group has two million shareholders in the company with an investment of US$ 12 billion so far and hopes to expand it to US$ 18 billion within the next five years. The Indian Government owns about 26 per cent and the remaining equity base belongs to overseas holdings and holdings of Indian institutions and the public. VSNL, through its Indicom service, offers free night access, better bandwidth, Crakblok security, stable connections, global roaming facility, video conferencing, TV uplinking, INMARSAT and net telephony. |
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