 "Tata Teleservices to focus on broadening 120,000-km fibre network")
Broadening of 120,000 km of its fibre network across the country will be a key focus for Information Communication and Technology (ICT) player Tata Teleservices as it vies to maintain its growth momentum in fixed voice and data segments.
"The demand for data is on the rise and we are now concentrating on broadening the fibre network", Prateek Pashine, president of the enterprise segment at Tata Teleservices said.
However, he refused to give any details over the capital expenditure to be incurred in execution of this project.
According to the official, while the fixed voice i.e. landline phones market - pegged at Rs. 9,000 crore - has registered a slow growth of just two% in recent times, the Tata Group owned company saw a 14% growth.
"The data market and the fixed voice market are the key focus segments for us although managed services is growing at a rapid pace", he said.
The voice and data markets - both fixed and mobile - is presently estimated at Rs. 31,000 crores while the overall telecom sector's industry size is estimated at a minimum of Rs. 180,000 crore.
The ICT company has projected to maintain its growth momentum of 14% in fixed voice and another 25% and 14% in fixed and mobile data segments respectively.
For the company which earns 30% of its ICT revenue from enterprise services since it entered the segment in 1996-97, the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector continues to contribute significantly towards its topline.
"Seventy five% of the revenue accounts from the SME sector while the rest 25 comes in from the enterprise segment", he said.
Adoption of cloud computing and growth in demand for data & voice services in the SME sector are playing a key role contributing to the growth of the 60-enterprise product strong company.