International

A conference call to Chennai

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE April 8. It is difficult to speak to one Prime Minister. And, it is next to impossible to talk to two Prime Ministers at the same time.

But the Tamil Nadu Governor, P.S. Ramamohan Rao, notched up a record of sorts when he spoke to the Prime Minster, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Singapore Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, on the new Bharti-SingTel undersea communication link this evening.

``Hello, Mr. Rao, good evening,'' a delighted Mr. Vajpayee told Mr. Rao in Chennai after the Bharti chief, Sunil Mittal, telephoned the Tamil Nadu Governor in the presence of a large number of persons, from Singapore.

``I hope you had a pleasant journey to Singapore... today is an important day,'' Mr. Rao said in response to Mr. Vajpayee as the Singapore Prime Minister listened to the conversation.

Soon, it was Mr. Goh's turn to speak on the conference call. "I am Goh Chok Tong,'' the Singapore Prime Minister said, adding that the line was very clear — as if Mr. Rao was "next door''. The Governor had the last line in the conversation — he conveyed the best wishes of the people of Tamil Nadu to Singapore.

By making the first call on what has been dubbed the i2i cable network, the two Prime Ministers effectively inaugurated the first private cable link between India and Singapore. This $250-million, 3200 km long line links Chennai with Tuas in Singapore.

In his remarks at the function, Mr. Mittal said: "The huge bandwidth being created today will benefit the software industry, call centres, dotcoms, and the entire spectrum of converged telecom and IT...''

The SingTel president, Lee Hsien Yang, said the completion of the cable coincided "very nicely with the recent liberalisation of India's international long distance market.

The cable will support Bharti's introduction of IDD (international direct dialling) services....'' SingTel's investment in Bharti currently stands at $650 millions.

There could not have been a better launch for the Bharti-SingTel collaboration with the two Prime Ministers present.

And, to make the launch even more attractive, Mr. Mittal promised that international call rates from India would come "tumbling down'' — by as much as 50 per cent to some destinations.

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