Anil to bridge bandwidth Gulf

Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani is on a jet-set trip to the Gulf countries, where he is expected to sign two major bandwidth deals "� one in Oman and the other in Kuwait. He is also slated to visit Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to sign similar contracts in these countries.

The Oman and Kuwait deals, to be signed today, will make the company the largest provider of international bandwidth from India.

Ambani is scheduled to meet OmanTel Chairman and President Saud Al-Shakeeri, and Minister of Transportation & Communications and Telecom Regulatory Authority of Oman Chairman Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdullah, today.

Ambani, accompanied by top brass of Reliance Communications, signed a deal to sell an initial capacity of up to 16 STM1 (1 STM1 = 155 MBPS).

Under the contract, OmanTel will purchase bandwidth from Flag Telecom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications, on its Falcon undersea cable.

This will also provide OmanTel direct connectivity to any point on Flag's global network. Ambani and Al-Shakeeri will also discuss further bandwidth sales between the two companies and setting up of a cable landing station for Reliance Communications' upcoming sub-sea cable, Falcon.

In the evening yesterday, Ambani flew to Kuwait where he will be signing a similar deal with the ministry of telecommunications (MoC).

He will sign the deal with Kuwait Minister of Telecommunications Ismail AlShatti. However, the deal sizes could not be ascertained, as Reliance-ADAG executives declined to comment on them.

MoC operates Kuwait's fixed telecommunications network and is also the country's telecom regulatory authority. On the final leg of the Gulf tour, he will stop at Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, where similar deals are expected to be signed with the respective governments.

Earlier, Reliance Communications bagged Deutsche Telekom's contract for supplying of around 150-200 GB of bandwidth, which was to be put to use for the German major's bandwidth need between the US and Europe.