New Delhi, Dec. 28: BT Group Plc has received a letter of intent (LoI) from the DoT for licences in national and international long distance services.

“The licences, once awarded, will enable our joint venture company in India, BT Telecom India Private Limited, to provide services directly to multi-site corporate customers in the country,” said C.S. Rao, managing director, BT-India.

BT had applied for the licences this year with the department of telecommunications (DoT) through BT Telecom India Private Limited, a joint venture between BT and Jubilant Enpro, a Delhi-based company in oil and gas, food and services.

BT will offer domestic and international services to corporate customers, Rao said. It will also offer virtual private network-based (VPN) services using technologies such as ATM and Internet protocol-based multi-protocol label switching (MPLS).

BT now provides some services to companies through an arrangement with Bharti Airtel.

Rao said the company would hire 6,000 people over the next two years and has targeted a revenue of Rs 1,150 crore during that period.

BT will be the second foreign company to get licences after the change in policy last year.

In October, US telecom firm AT&T became the first foreign carrier to get a licence for voice and data services to companies. The company has set up a joint venture — AT&T Global Network Services India— to offer the services. AT&T owns 74 per cent in the joint venture and Indian partner Mahindra Telecommunications Investment the rest.

“Besides AT&T, Reliance Communications and VSNL are competitors of BT,” said N.K. Goyal, an independent telecom analyst.