Japan’s NTT partners with India’s TCIL for 5G, AI, Submarine Cable technologies
Japanese telecommunications company NTT Advanced Technologies and Indian Government-owned Telecommunications Consultants of India Ltd. (TCIL) have agreed to cooperate and work in the areas of 5G technology, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, and submarine cable systems.
TCIL and NTT Advanced Technologies’ 2 Year Agreement
TCIL has signed this agreement for an initial period of two-years (extendable further) with NTT Advanced Technologies. The agreement will enable both companies to co-provide services in the telecom, networking, information, and related applications to their customers.
As per the statement released by TCIL, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two companies states: “The parties agree to cooperate, discuss, conduct workshops, and transfer knowledge on non-exclusive basis in order to explore evolution of services such as smart cities, Cybersecurity, 5G, AI, Internet of Things (IoT), skill development, test labs and submarine cable“.
Partnership with NTT to remove dependence on Chinese Products
India, in order to minimise imports from China, is exploring other options in the areas where its own domestic manufacturing is weak. With this partnership, TCIL would be able to leverage Tokyo-based NTT’s system integration, networking and product management expertise, especially in the field of optical fibre cables, submarine cables and telecom infrastructure.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, Chairman, TCIL said “NTT will act as a technology provider for upcoming next generation (5G) networks, and will also boost AI-based applications, blockchain and digital healthcare services“.
He further added, “The partnership with the Japanese company – NTT would also provide a competitive edge following a sharp cut in dependence on Chinese products and underdeveloped locally-manufactured equipment”.
He also informed the press that partnership between both the companies may also provide a remote possibility of bidding for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s (BSNL) fourth generation or 4G deployment with 5G-upgradable equipment as one of the conditions of the MoU.
NTT’s Existing Business Interests in India
NTT entered India in 2012 when it bought a controlling stake in Netmagic, the country’s first independent data centre provider founded (in 1998) by Sharad Sanghi for a reported Rs 900 Crore. Later in 2018 Mr. Sanghi fully exited the company selling the remaining 19 per cent stake to NTT.
With over 1.5 million sq ft across 10 data centres operational already in four cities, NTT is the largest operator in this segment in India. NTT has announced to launch 6 more data centre parks over the next three years with an investment of USD 1.5 billion dollars. Of these, currently three parks are under construction in Mhape and Airoli (both in Navi Mumbai) and Chandivali in Mumbai; and one each will come up in Chennai, Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. NTT is also the biggest supplier of submarine cables for various landing stations in India.
