STAY CONNECTED

Mumbai, June 18: Tata Communications International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Communications Ltd, has acquired a 50 per cent stake in China Enterprise Communications Limited (CEC), a Beijing based value-added telecom and IT services provider.

The joint venture will become effective after the necessary government and regulatory approvals.

“Through Tata Communications, we will focus on the development of the domestic market to provide high quality networking service to multinational companies in China. We intend to grow the strength of the brand,” said Zhu Jianhua, president and chief executive officer of CEC.

The company was recently awarded a nationwide service licence by China’s ministry of information industry, the first valued-added service licence given to a virtual private network (VPN) operator.

CEC provides VPN connectivity to 347 cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Ghangzhou and Shenzhan.

Officials said this reach would complement Tata Communications’ VPN presence in 120 Indian cities and 19 other major business capitals in North America, Europe and Asia.

“Tata Communications understands the complex, fast-changing and extremely competitive Chinese telecom environment and the needs of customers requiring seamless end-to-end connectivity. This is an innovative step in our ongoing effort to enable connectivity and managed services across strategic regions and emerging markets that are of high value to our global customers,” said Vinod Kumar, president (data and mobility services) of Tata Communications.

CEC is majority owned by China International Trust and Investment Corporation, while other minority investors include state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and CE-SCM.

Another telecom company to foray into the Chinese market in recent times is Reliance Communications, which acquired WiMax operator eWave World in April this year.