Telecoms conglomerate Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd said on Tuesday it has paid US$40 million for an 8 percent stake in an undersea cable consortium and hoped it would lead to a fall in domestic bandwidth prices.
Bharti, the country's largest mobile services provider, is among 16 carriers in a consortium that owns the South East Asia, Middle East and Western Europe (SEA-ME-WE) 4 cable system running through 14 countries from Singapore to France.
"There were capacity constraints on the west side and we have always felt the need to connect India to the West," Badri Agarwal, who oversees fixed-line and long distance activities for Bharti, told reporters.
New Delhi-based Bharti also partly owns an undersea cable running from the southern city of Chennai to Singapore.
Demand for bandwidth is surging in Asia's third-largest economy, where booming sectors such as banking and export-oriented software services are growing at a rapid pace.
US firms are the largest customers of India's US$17.2 billion software sector, which is forecast to grow to US$60 billion by 2010.
Agarwal said he expected prices to fall in the coming months.
"When more and more capacities are offered, then prices take a southward turn," he said.
Bharti, 30.84 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, counts the Indian units of American Express Co and back-office services firm Daksh IBM Ltd as clients.
Bharti competes with firms such as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd in the overseas telecoms bandwidth market.
Bharti, the country's largest mobile services provider, is among 16 carriers in a consortium that owns the South East Asia, Middle East and Western Europe (SEA-ME-WE) 4 cable system running through 14 countries from Singapore to France.
"There were capacity constraints on the west side and we have always felt the need to connect India to the West," Badri Agarwal, who oversees fixed-line and long distance activities for Bharti, told reporters.
New Delhi-based Bharti also partly owns an undersea cable running from the southern city of Chennai to Singapore.
Demand for bandwidth is surging in Asia's third-largest economy, where booming sectors such as banking and export-oriented software services are growing at a rapid pace.
US firms are the largest customers of India's US$17.2 billion software sector, which is forecast to grow to US$60 billion by 2010.
Agarwal said he expected prices to fall in the coming months.
"When more and more capacities are offered, then prices take a southward turn," he said.
Bharti, 30.84 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, counts the Indian units of American Express Co and back-office services firm Daksh IBM Ltd as clients.
Bharti competes with firms such as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd in the overseas telecoms bandwidth market.
