Thursday, July 28 2005 21:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government today (July 28, 2005) asked Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group, to reduce international bandwidth prices in view of the huge potential for India-centric BPO services.

The request was made by Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran.

Tata assured the Minister that VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd) would not like to play a monopolistic role, but the matter of reducing bandwidth prices was to be decided by VSNL management.

"VSNL has made huge investments to fuel the capacity and we are making it truly a global company...we do not plan to play a monopolistic role...we would also like BSNL to share its capacity for achieving the goal," he said.

While announcing the integration of VSNL with Tyco Global Network, which the Tata Group Company acquired for $130 million, Tata said VSNL has been and continues to be in a close partnership with Government to achieve the goal of making the company a truly global one.

Maran pointed out that the tarrifs for international bandwidth in India are very high compared to international benchmarks, especially for high bandwidth circuits.

"I am informed this is unfavourable to India. This puts India in a competitive disadvantage. India's other advantages get nullified by this factor," Maran said.

"I shall be extremely happy if Tata's integration with Tyco can bring Indian costs at least at par with other countries," he added.

He also announced that BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) has undertaken the work of laying an undersea cable from Chennai to Sri Lanka and to connect Andaman and Nicobar to Singapore.

VSNL completed the acquisition of undersea cable network company Tyco Global Network earlier this month.

The company paid $130 million for Tyco that has over 60,000 km undersea cable network in of North America, Europe and Asia.

Ongoing management responsibility of Tyco Global Network would be assigned to VSNL International, a division leading VSNL's expansion into e-global market.