VSNL leases Asia Netcom bandwidth

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) has signed an agreement with the Hong Kong-based Asia Netcom to lease its pan-Asia undersea cable system.

The 19,500 km cable network, which offers 80 giga bits per second (gbps) bandwidth, links India to Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.

The agreement also envisages additional bandwidth across the Pacific through Tyco's cable system, which will connect the rest of Asia to the US.

The move follows complaints by Indian companies, including Reliance Infocomm and Data Access, and the National Association of Software and Service Companies of a dearth of bandwidth.

The Asia Netcom-VSNL deal also assumes significance in light of Reliance Infocomm's proposal to acquire international cable network FLAG. FLAG has an exclusive tie-up with VSNL, which may run into rough weather if Reliance buys it.

Satyam Infoway has also tied up with Asia Netcom.

Asia Netcom Senior Vice-President Vinod Kumar said, "The combination of EAC and Tyco enhances cable diversity for the Indian market, allowing both Indian corporations and carriers to design and build their networks using cable systems other than the traditional combination of SEA-ME-WE 3, APCN2 and the Japan-US systems. This is crucial for the business process outsourcing (BPO) segment, which requires robust, high-quality reliable connections."

V S Sridhar, head of corporate sales, VSNL, said, "Our customers will not only benefit from the enhanced coverage in Asia, but will have the ability to reach the US market over a single network environment managed by Asia Netcom."