With a view to leading the broadband revolution in the country, the Tata Group is mulling the acquisition of an Indian broadband company. The group is currently conducting due-diligence for the buyout.
"We are doing a due-diligence of a broadband company in India which has a broadband subscriber base of 30,000 customers. Once we make an acquisition, we will have a starting point in the broadband arena," Kishore Chaukar, Managing Director of Tata Industries said addressing Supercomm India 2004 in New Delhi on Wednesday.
He, however, declined to identify the broadband company.
Highlighting the role of broadband in development of the telecommunications sector in India, he said, "The Tata Group feels that India will find its place in broadband capability. The factors that will drive broadband growth will be its availability, quality and awareness."
Listing out the needs for telecom sector especially broadband, he said, "It will be through sharing of infrastructure by players. We cannot afford to have 5-10 networks."
He said that unbundling of the last mile was also necessary, and added, "The last leg of the regulation should happen sooner than later."
"We will gun for 15 million connections on broadband in a five to six year period," Chaukar said and added that the company hoped to lead the broadband revolution.
He said Tata Group managed Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd's undersea cable from India to Singapore would be commissioned by September this year.
"It would have a capacity of five terabits," he said, but did not indicate the investment pumped into the project.
Speaking on the occasion, Gene Delaney, executive vice president of Motorola Inc, said that the potential of Indian telecom sector was 'awesome.'
"The Indian government's policy has helped in facilitating growth and upgrading infrastructure. The unified services licence has started to propel growth in telecom sector," he said.
He pointed out that the average revenue per subscriber accruing to service providers in India was less than 10 dollars and far below the average level in Asia.
"Companies like Motorola will have to partner with the service providers to address the sub-$10 market," he said, adding that targeting the business users could ensure a balanced portfolio.
