RIL ties up with Tata Tele for digital network

Track record and consistency of service seen to have clinched the deal between the two service providers.

Reliance Industries (RIL) has tied up with Tata Teleservices Limited for voice and data network services across the country.

Under the terms of the deal, which is reported to have been finalised a month back, Tata Teleservices will provide EPBX and ISDN PRI connectivity to Reliance Industries along with other voice and data services.

This comes in the wake of the speculation that after the demerger, RIL has bought a leaseline connection from BSNL at around 25 per cent discount.

Confirming the development, Uttam Soni, vice-president and head (enterprise business), Tata Teleservices, said, "We have signed up with RIL to provide digital connectivity and other services, and the connectivity implementation is already underway".

Tata Teleservices has a capacity of 30 analog lines and will begin implementing digital connectivity from Gujarat and later cover other states in phases, he said.

At present, Tata teleservices has begun work on RIL Naroda, the refineries in Jamnagar as well as IPCL in Vadodara. The implementation process was put on track two weeks back, he added.

On the RIL-Tata merger, Suneel Bandhu, COO Gujarat, told Business Standard, "The deal with RIL is expected to form 10 per cent of our total revenue earnings and will be just the beginning since we will be introducing numerous state-of-the-art services under a platform called M-Power".

The M-Power platform consists of applications like V Data card, which can interface with any laptop, Road Warrior, virtual network solution, SMS gateway, that allows building , hosting and operating the user's own SMS applications, vehicle tracking system through a combination of VPN and a GPS System as well as automated metre-reading systems.

"We believe RIL has come to us because of our track record and consistency in CDMA services. Our special applications are unique and have the ability to work faster on multiple platforms." Bandhu said.

Tata Teleservices is also in talks with major power companies for its automated metre-reading system application, which, according to Bandhu, will eliminate the need for linesman to check metres while increase efficiency.

Torrent Power is reportedly one of the companies that has tied up with Tata Teleservices for the facility and has already installed it on the premises of its plant outside Surat.

The company has also tied up other companies like Essar Steel, Tata Chemicals, ABB, L&T, Zydus Cadila, Alsthom Power for its services.

It is also in talks with the Gujarat Police Department to offer data and voice connectivity for its stations across the state.