VSNL joins the $2-billion club
June 6, 2007

VSNL recently became a member of the $2-billion club clocking approximately Rs8857 crore in consolidated revenues for the year ended March 31, 2007, according to audited financial results under Indian GAAP. These are the highest ever recorded annual revenues in VSNL's history and are a significant landmark in the company's transformation into a global challenger. VSNL, which is listed on BSE, NSE and NYSE, has a market capitalisation of around $3.2 billion.

VSNL is leading the Tata Group's telecom foray into the carrier and enterprise solutions and consumer broadband segments, with over 50 per cent of its revenues coming from its overseas operations. Riding on the back of the acquisitions of Teleglobe and Tyco Global Network, it is one of the world's largest international voice carriers, with about 20 billion minutes of annual traffic and one of the largest owners of bandwidth in the world. VSNL has now set itself the vision of being a leading provider of IP-based communication solutions, leveraging its global transmission network and IP core.

In February 2002, when VSNL became a part of the Tata Group, it had a single-country, single-business focus with nearly 90 per cent of its revenues coming from the wholesale ILD business. In the last five years, VSNL has expanded its portfolio of services to include carrier and enterprise data services, retail broadband while continuing to retain market-leadership in its traditional wholesale voice business.

"VSNL has transformed its business model from being an India-centric, single business company to a truly global communications solutions company. Our acquisitions have not only given us world-class assets and ongoing revenues but also helped create a strong platform for VSNL to become competitive in the global carrier and enterprise solutions market," N Srinath, managing director of VSNL, said.

The company today has a global customer base comprising 1500 telecom carriers, 600 mobile operators, nearly 10,000 corporates and 500,000 consumers. VSNL owns and operates a global telecommunications network of 2,00,000 route kilometers, and an Internet Protocol (IP) network that is amongst the global top 10. VSNL also manages South Africa's second national operator, Neotel, and has emerging operations in Sri Lanka and Nepal. VSNL's nearly 4,400 employees, of 37 nationalities, are located in 135 offices across 38 countries.

In Indian rupee terms the company's revenues for the year ended March 31, 2007, were up 85 per cent over the previous year. The company's EBITDA, according to Indian GAAP, increased by 49 per cent to Rs1299 crore.