The convergence era has great opportunities to offer to companies integrating their voice and data and video services. And it might be that Tata is best positioned to benefit from the convergence of telecom, IT and media sector. It has its presence in all these fields. Its recent acquisition of CMC will boost its telecom software business, along with the TCS and Tata Elxsi. VSNL, with its infrastructure and alliances, seems a perfect fit. VSNL is an exclusive provider of international services within and from India. Besides being the largest dedicated Internet network in India, it has well thought out future plans in place. VSNL has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for acquisition of satellite capacity in the Indian Ocean region. The acquisition provides an ideal opportunity for the Tata Group to seamlessly integrate its basic and cellular services with VSNL's presence in international long distance and ISP businesses, and its foray into the national long distance space.

Furthermore, there are huge latent markets waiting to be tapped. The IT and telecom sector in India are set for exponential growth. Subscriber numbers are likely to rise from 35 million in March 2001 to about 85 million in 2006. The Tata Group is targeting a six million customer base of the 85 million subscribers in both basic and cellular services. The Tata Group is also planning to use the VSNL opportunity as its entry vehicle into the broadband services. It is planning a countrywide fiber optic Internet backbone. VSNL may also serve BPL-BATATA as a vehicle for entry in NLD. Tata Telecom's alliance with Avaya Inc. and a strong support network is its strength in the fast growing call center solution business.

The Tata Nova will soon be a part of Tata Teleservices when Tata ISP merges with Tata Teleservices (the merger to be completed in the coming fiscal2002-2003). Continuing its bid to bring the Tatas' voice and data communication services under one umbrella, the group is also considering a proposal to bring the operations of Tata Net in to Tata Teleservices fold. As a consequence, it won't be long, with BPL-BATATA merger in offing, when the Tatas have their empire spread over the country.

The old economy giant has been gathering might to leverage opportunities in the new economy. The group intends to be a market leader and become a truly world-class, end-to-end telecom services company. The Group has a strong presence in both infrastructure and access services that give it the ability to provide a full range of services to its customers and be nimble in a very dynamic market. Allready, this Group is planning to bring its cellular and non-cellular business under one umbrella.

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