Tata Communications Limited (previously known as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited) is an Indian

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

company. It was a government-owned telecommunications service provider before being sold to the

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate group of companies headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest business conglomerate, with products and services in over 160 countries, and operations in 100 c ...

in 2002 under the Third Vajpayee ministry government. The company provides network services and software-defined network platforms, such as

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

, SD-WAN,

content delivery network A content delivery network (CDN) or content distribution network is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and their data centers. The goal is to provide high availability and performance ("speed") by distributing the service spat ...

s (CDNs), the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

Multiprotocol Label Switching Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a routing technique in telecommunications networks that directs data from one node to the next based on labels rather than network addresses. Whereas network addresses identify endpoints, the labels iden ...

(MPLS), and

private line In telecommunications, a private line is typically a telephone company service that uses a dedicated, usually unswitched point-to-point circuit, but it may involve private switching arrangements, or predefined transmission physical or virtual p ...

s. It is listed on the

Bombay Stock Exchange BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange based in Mumbai. It is the 6th largest stock exchange in the world by total market capitalization, exceeding $5 trillion in May 2024. Established with t ...

and the

National Stock Exchange of India National Stock Exchange of India Limited, also known as the National Stock Exchange (NSE), is an Indian stock exchange based in Mumbai. It is the List of stock exchanges, 5th largest stock exchange in the world by total market capitalization, ...

History

The business was founded as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) in 1986. Under the chairmanship of B. K. Syngal (1991–98), VSNL launched the first publicly-available internet plans in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in 1995. The international arm of VSNL (VSNL International) was launched in 2004. In 2004, VSNL acquired DishnetDSL in a slump sale from its promoter Chinnakannan Sivasankaran. After the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

launched Disinvestment of Public Sector Units in India, VSNL was completely acquired by the

in 2002 and renamed Tata Communications on 13 February 2008.

Tata Communications global network

In 2009, Tata Communications and Tyco Telecommunications completed the TGN-Intra Asia cable system. In 2012, the company completed its network across

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

linking

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and created a subsea fibre network that circumnavigates the world. The

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

n section of the Tata Global Network runs across the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, connecting

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

with

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. In January 2016,

Windstream Communications Windstream Holdings, Inc., trading as Windstream Communications is a provider of voice and data network communications to businesses across the United States. Under the Kinetic brand, it offers broadband, phone and digital streaming TV services to ...

announced it was extending its

100 Gigabit Ethernet 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40GbE) and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GbE) are groups of computer networking technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at rates of 40 and 100 gigabits per second (Gbit/s), respectively. These technologies offer significantly ...

(100G) network from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

data center operator NJFX's presence at Tata's Cable Landing Station (CLS) in

Wall Township, New Jersey Wall Township is a Township (New Jersey), township within Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Crisscrossed by several different highways within the heart of the Jersey Shore region, the township is a t ...

, to

Ashburn, Virginia Ashburn is a unincorporated settlement and census-designated place (CDP) in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, its population was 46,349, up from 3,393 in 1990. It is northwest of Washington, D.C., and par ...

's internet hub.

Products and services

*Tata Communications offers

ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

and

services via a

and other support services, like

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercion). Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be persons and social groups, objects and institutions, ecosystems, or any other entity or ...

, satellite teleports, fibre-based video network and

transcoding Transcoding is the direct digital-to-digital conversion of one encoding to another, such as for video data files, audio files (e.g., MP3, WAV), or character encoding (e.g., UTF-8, ISO/IEC 8859). This is usually done in cases where a target ...

. *Tata Communications has a

data centre A data center is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. Since IT operations are crucial for business ...

network located in 44 locations worldwide. *Tata Communications has completed its acquisition of Kaleyra. The deal, worth approximately

million 1,000,000 (one million), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the ...

, will combine Tata's customer base and other enterprise solutions. *It offers

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...

services and

managed security service In computing, managed security services (MSS) are network security services that have been outsourced to a service provider. A company providing such a service is a managed security service provider (MSSP) The roots of MSSPs are in the Internet ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Mumbai Telecommunications companies of India Internet service providers of India Telecommunications companies established in 1986 Tier 1 networks 1986 establishments in Maharashtra Formerly government-owned companies of India Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange