Mumbai – August 26, 2009 –Tata Communications, a leading provider of a new world of communications, and Neotel, South Africa’s first converged communication national operator, today announced that they have launched service on the SEACOM cable system, the first undersea submarine cable system that will connect the African continent to Europe, Asia and India.

With the SEACOM system, Tata Communications will be able to provide fully integrated network services from South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya to its networks in Europe, Asia and India.

As part of its commitment to expand communications services to and from emerging markets, SEACOM will enhance connectivity for businesses based out of Europe, Asia and India by providing them with cable and capacity options into South Africa never before available. Tata Communications’ subsidiary Tata Communications Transformation Services Limited (TCTS) will manage the network administration, operations and maintenance of the 17,000 km cable system supporting 1.28 Tbps of capacity.

“As a truly global service provider, Tata Communications is able to provide end-to-end solutions in India, Europe and South Africa, as well as onward connectivity to major business destinations in the US and Asia,” said Byron Clatterbuck, Senior Vice President, Global Transmission Services at Tata Communications. “The SEACOM cable system sets Tata Communications apart from our competitors by bringing unprecedented business value to enterprises and service providers.”

Tata Communications is operating the landing point in Mumbai while Neotel, will manage the landing point in South Africa. Customers will enjoy seamless connectivity between the SEACOM cable system and the Tata Communications global network, along with Neotel’s converged network in South Africa.

Earlier this year, Tata Communications announced its increased shareholding in Neotel which effectively made Neotel the only operator in South Africa that is involved in all of the current and planned submarine cable systems confirmed to land in South Africa. Thus far, Neotel has made an investment of R20m in the landing station and facilities necessary to land SEACOM, not including backhaul connectivity. Neotel has just concluded a backhaul agreement with SEACOM that allows for capacity to terminate in Johannesburg rather than Mtunzini, creating a tremendous impact on the costs of capacity.

The launch of SEACOM, which augments the SAT3/SAFE cable system, also means that Tata Communications and Neotel are now able to provide a fully redundant service by supplying access via multiple routes to anywhere in the world, and can reach Europe, for the first time, via three different routes: SAT3, SEACOM and SAFE – SEA-ME-WE3/4.

“SEACOM will add another alternative to the market, and consumers will benefit from the resulting competition,” says Stefano Mattiello, Chief Sales and Customer Service Officer at Neotel. “The relationship between Tata Communications and Neotel, and their involvement in all of the international cables, means that businesses and consumers will now really have access to a seamless service connecting them to the rest of the world at affordable rates.”

Through SEACOM, Tata Communications is able to expand the reach of the Tata Global Network (TGN) to destinations on the East Coast of Africa. Additionally, the SEACOM cable system strengthens Tata Communications world-class IP and MPLS services, which are primed for significant growth in the rapidly growing region.

About Tata Communications

Tata Communications is a leading global provider of a new world of communications. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers.

The Tata Global Network includes one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks, a Tier-1 IP network, with connectivity to more than 200 countries across 400 PoPs, and nearly 1 million square feet of data center and collocation space worldwide.

Tata Communications’ depth and breadth of reach in emerging markets includes leadership in Indian enterprise data services, leadership in global international voice, and strategic investments in operators in South Africa (Neotel), Sri Lanka (Tata Communications Lanka Limited), Nepal (United Telecom Limited), and subject to approval by the Chinese government, China (China Enterprise Communications)

Tata Communications Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India and its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. (NYSE: TCL)

About Neotel

Neotel is South Africa’s first converged communications network operator. It provides a range of value-added voice and data services for businesses, wholesale network operators and providers and consumers using its pure-IP Next Generation Network, powered by Neotel’s high-performance fibre optic backbone. Neotel connects the major centres in South Africa to each other and to the world, directly linking the country into Tata Communications’ global Tier 1 network. Neotel offers fresh thinking, a creative approach and flexible solutions for communications in South Africa.

Forward-looking and cautionary statements

Certain words and statements in this release concerning Tata Communications and its prospects, and other statements, including those relating to Tata Communications’ expected financial position, business strategy, the future development of Tata Communications’ operations, and the general economy in India, are forward-looking statements. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including financial, regulatory and environmental, as well as those relating to industry growth and trend projections, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of Tata Communications, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, among others, failure to increase the volume of traffic on Tata Communications’ network; failure to develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; failure to successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services, including voice transmission services; failure to stabilize or reduce the rate of price compression on certain of the company’s communications services; failure to integrate strategic acquisitions and changes in government policies or regulations of India and, in particular, changes relating to the administration of Tata Communications’ industry; and, in general, the economic, business and credit conditions in India. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, many of which are not in Tata Communications’ control, include, but are not limited to, those risk factors discussed in Tata Communications’ various filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Tata Communications is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, updates or alters its forward-looking statements.

source TATA Communications – 26 August 2009

Neotel planning a WiMax offering for the small business market which may include uncapped data service.

Neotel is readying to launch a WiMax based small business solution, offering clients a more advanced service than its current NeoFlex voice and NeoFlex data products.

Details about the new service remain sketchy, but a source close to the company said that Neotel will launch a 10 channel PABX voice service using WiMax as a last mile access technology.  This service can be seen as a superior offering to the company’s current NeoFlex voice service using Samsung Networking equipment and CDMA as an access technology.

The company is also working on a WiMax based data offering which is likely to include a high usage or uncapped offering at speeds of multiple-Mbps.  This service may be positioned to challenge the current high-end ADSL offerings aimed at the SME market.

Neotel was asked for official comment about their WiMax plans in the SME market, but the company did not provide feedback by the time of publication.

source MyBroadband – 20 August 2009