BT applies for long-distance licences in India

BT Group has applied for licences to provide domestic and international long-distance telecom services in India to both foreign companies setting up operations and Indian firms expanding offshore.

BT said on Monday it saw revenues from its Indian operations at $250 million (131 million pounds) by 2009, and planned to hire an additional 6,000 people over the next two years. It currently employs 15,000 staff in Asia-Pacific, of whom at least 60 percent are based in India.

"We would now have the ability to directly serve Indian companies that have a global presence and also multinational firms that have multi-site operations," C S Rao, managing director at BT India, told reporters.


Earlier this month, U.S. telecom AT&T Inc. became the first foreign carrier to secure a licence to provide corporate services in India through a majority-owned entity after a policy change last year.


India is home to the world's fastest growing wireless services market, and over the past year it has substantially cut market entry fees in a bid to inject competition for domestic and international calls.

Rao said the BT Group had formed a majority-owned joint venture firm, BT Telecom India Ltd., with Jubilant Group, its Indian partner, owning 26 percent stake.

The firm plans to provide voice and data services based on virtual private networks, international conferencing services and voice and multimedia services for the back office industry.

Rao estimated the market for such services at more than $1 billion annually, growing between 14 and 18 percent as Indian firms expand overseas and foreign companies set up operations in Asia's fourth-largest economy, which is forecast to grow at around 8 percent in the year to March 2007.

At the moment BT provides some services to companies in India through telecoms conglomerate Bharti Airtel Ltd., also the country's largest mobile services provider.