L&T to Set Up Internet Backbone in India
By Hari Menon
India Correspondent, asia.internet.com
[February 25, 2000--MUMBAI] L&T Communications, a wholly-owned subsidiary of engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T)-http://www.larsentoubro.com/ - is planning to build the first ever private sector Internet Protocol (IP) backbone in India.
According to company sources, a pilot optical fiber cable project will be launched in Delhi soon, followed by projects in southern and western India, which will facilitate a broadband network for the Internet and convergent communications.
In mid-January, L&T announced its intention to become a major ISP and network services provider (NSP), and subsequently set up L&T Netcom (the ISP arm) and L&T Communications (for network services).
The company plans to invest over US$100 million in these businesses in phases, though the huge investment necessary for the IP backbone project may be raised raise through collaborations.
The government-run MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd) and DoT (Department of Telecommunications) are the only players currently involved in the Internet infrastructure business in the country.
The L&T venture is not expected to eat into DoT and MTNL revenues because the latter are into voice networks primarily for telephony while the L&T network will cater primarily for data movement.
International company WorldTel, the first to focus on Internet infrastructure in India, has already tied up with seven state governments to set up an IP backbone across the country as part of its plan to provide Internet infrastructure in emerging markets.
L&T's foray into this area is, however, on a larger scale.
"Both WorldTel and L&T can share the business here as worldwide we see more than one player dominating the Internet infrastructure business in a country," said an industry analyst. "For instance, in the US, MCI Worldcom and AT&T are the two main players in this business," he pointed out.
"We may invest more in the telecom sector as and when opportunities arise," said A.M. Naik, CEO of L&T. "We have made only a start with the ISP and NSP forays."
L&T expects a turnover of US$500 million from its IT-related business by 2006. |
