Sucheta Dalal :Tata Teleservices signs infrastructure sharing agreement with BSNL
Sucheta Dalal

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Tata Teleservices signs infrastructure sharing agreement with BSNL  

September 30, 2009

 

Tata Teleservices Ltd has said that it has signed a master services agreement with State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) for sharing passive infrastructure over 15 years. No financial details were provided.
 
“This agreement has the potential to not just speed up our network expansion and rollout process, but would also have a substantial impact in terms of reduced costs,” said AG Rao, chief technology officer, Tata Teleservices.
 
Earlier in July the State-run telecom giant has said that it hopes to generate revenues of about Rs10 billion within a year from sharing its infrastructure with other telecom companies, a concept which telecom companies are eying to reduce their costs to mitigate the impact of the global slowdown.
 
BSNL has around 40,000 telecom towers across the country. However, its financial performance has been dwindling due to competition and wage costs. Especially, BSNL's profit has declined on account of increase in employee costs following the implementation of pay commission recommendations and fall in its fixed line services.
 
As per the agreement, BSNL will provide its existing sites—including operation and maintenance services—to Tata Teleservices on a shared basis. The agreement will be applicable to both Tata Teleservices and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd in India’s 22 telecom circles. - Yogesh Sapkale [email protected]

-- Sucheta Dalal