Tata Power's MoU with GAIL

By Our Staff Correspondent

MUMBAI, JULY 4. Tata Power Company has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) to co-operate in the telecom sector for providing communication infrastructure to various telecom operators.

GAIL is planning to set up a nationwide optic fibre cable (OFC) network covering the northern western and southern parts of the country spread over 10,000 km. The phase I network to connect Delhi to Mumbai is in advanced stage of implementation. Tata Power Broad Band (TPBB), a division of Tata Power Company, is at an advanced stage of completing its Mumbai metro network and is planning to create the OFC network for interconnecting major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.

The networks being set up by Tata Power and GAIL are complementary and would enable the two companies to spread their market reach through mutually beneficial co-operation in the telecom sector. The availability of such an integrated network will enable basic, cellular, Internet service providers and domestic long distance operators to establish and commence operations at the earliest and at the same time provide a very high degree of reliability to their operation.

Both Tata Power and GAIL are category II Infrastructure providers. At present Tata Power has 500 km of OFC network around the Mumbai-Pune area and the GAIL has 2000 km of OFC network in the western part of the country. Utilising these resources, Tata Power and GAIL will create nationwide scalable, broadband network offerings.

The GAIL is a leading national gas company with an unmatched natural gas and LPG distribution infrastructure of over 4,200 km of gas pipelines and about 1,250 km of LPG pipeline.

The Tata Power Company is the largest private sector power utility known for its reliable supply of power for over eight decades. Tata Power has pioneered OFC technology for its communications and control and has developed the requisite skill sets that it wish to leverage in the telecom infrastructure business. TPBB is all set to launch its first Metro Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network in August 2001.

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Section  : Business
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