The Hindu Business Line : AT&T Global to be operational by early 2007

AT&T Global Network Services, a joint venture between AT&T Inc and Mahindra Telecom Investment, will be operational by early next year. The company will be setting up its fifth node in Hyderabad in January.

The firm is not yet operational and are resolving issues, said Mr John F. Finnegan, Senior Vice-President, Global Sales, AT&T Business Sales. It will be operational by the beginning of the new year. AT&T will be expanding in India, China and Brazil.

AT&T announced it was the first foreign telecom operator to receive NLD (national long distance) & ISP (International service provider) licences, and will now offer customers direct access to its network. The company has been operating in India for six years in partnership with VSNL.

Supplier model

The VSNL partnership will now be solely commercial in nature and their relationship will change to a supplier model, said Mr Sanjeev Bhagat, CEO & Managing Director, AT&T Global Network Services India. The first priority for the new business will be the seamless transition of customers to the new business, he said. As a 26 per cent shareholder, Mr Ulhas Yargop, Director of Mahindra Telecommunications Investment, will be involved in board-level discussions for the newly licensed company.

Revenues of the Indian arm grew at 40 per cent in the first half of 2006. The company expects the same growth in future.

AT&T has 35 per cent of market share and 350 customers in India. The firm is targeting ITeS (IT enabled services) and BFSI (banking, financial) verticals in the Indian market for its MPLS VPN solutions. "Seventy per cent of the total business was from foreign MNCs, but now significant growth is noticed from Indian MNCs too," said Mr Bhagat.

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