Landmark strategic sourcing agreement to bring higher quality international calls at competitive rates to yuMobile customers
Mumbai (BSE) & New York (NYSE) – 22 September, 2011 – Tata Communications, a global communications service provider, and Essar Telecom Kenya (yuMobile), a unit of Essar Group, today announce the signing of a mutually beneficial strategic sourcing agreement. Under the landmark deal, yuMobile will, exclusively, route all its international voice traffic through Tata Communications’ network. yuMobile continues to be one of the company’s key suppliers of telecommunication services throughout Kenya.
The partnership will allow yuMobile to tap into Tata Communications’ extensive and robust voice infrastructure, enabling it to deliver higher quality international calls at competitive rates to customers in Kenya. Through yuMobile, Tata Communications will benefit from the increasing demand for high quality voice services in Africa generated by a rapid rise in the number of mobile subscribers on the continent.
Catherine Halsam, a wholesale telecoms analyst at Ovum commented, “Ovum�s research shows that there were about 550 million mobile connections in Africa at the end of 2010 and we expect this number to almost double to just shy of 1 billion by 2016. Africa�s rapid telecoms awakening is all about rising demand driven by the falling costs of mobile connectivity and improved coverage.”
Madhur Taneja, Country Manager, yuMobile says: “We understand the importance of tying up with partners who can deliver the best in their field of expertise”. Working with Tata Communications ensures that we’re able to deliver the highest call service quality to our customers today, and in the future, as our subscriber base grows. Having access to Tata Communications’ extensive global network and advanced voice traffic management tools allow us to focus on our core business and the latest mobile technology advancements, giving us the competitive edge in the booming African mobile market.”
Michel Guyot, President of Global Voice Solutions, Tata Communications, says: “Becoming yuMobile’s sole provider for international voice termination is a unique deal for us in Africa. Africa represents one of the strongest growth opportunities in the voice sector and our experience in the region means that we are ideally placed to help yuMobile build its business in Kenya. The solutions that we offer enable our customers to become more competitive in their regions by reducing costs, streamlining operations and improving service quality, while allowing them to focus on core services.”
Tata Communications’ strategic voice traffic outsourcing and advanced voice traffic management tools will allow yuMobile to minimise the administrative burden and operational costs associated with managing an international voice interconnect organisation. It will also enable the company to focus on its core business and capitalise on the key growth areas in the African market.
yuMobile will benefit from Tata Communications’ scale and routing expertise as well competitive costs for international call termination. This stable cost structure will allow the company to roll out promotions to its customers without compromising on quality. Working with Tata Communications also eliminates the financial risks that could occur due to misroutes and the improper code and cost management associated with managing international voice.
Tata Communications was awarded the Best Global Wholesale Services Provider by Capacity Magazine for its network reach, its strategic partnership approach and its commitment to improving capacity to the fastest growing emerging markets.
About Tata Communications
Tata Communications is a leading global provider of a new world of communications. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers.
The Tata Global Network includes one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks, a Tier-1 IP network, with connectivity to more than 200 countries across 400 PoPs, and nearly 1 million square feet of data center and collocation space worldwide.
Tata Communications� depth and breadth of reach in emerging markets includes leadership in Indian enterprise data services, leadership in global international voice, and strategic investments in South Africa (Neotel), Sri Lanka (Tata Communications Lanka Limited) and Nepal (United Telecom Limited)
Tata Communications Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India and its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. (NYSE: TCL)
Forward-looking and cautionary statements
Certain words and statements in this release concerning Tata Communications and its prospects, and other statements, including those relating to Tata Communications’ expected financial position, business strategy, the future development of Tata Communications’ operations, and the general economy in India, are forward-looking statements. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including financial, regulatory and environmental, as well as those relating to industry growth and trend projections, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of Tata Communications, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, among others, failure to increase the volume of traffic on Tata Communications’ network; failure to develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; failure to successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services, including voice transmission services; failure to stabilize or reduce the rate of price compression on certain of the company’s communications services; failure to integrate strategic acquisitions and changes in government policies or regulations of India and, in particular, changes relating to the administration of Tata Communications’ industry; and, in general, the economic, business and credit conditions in India. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, many of which are not in Tata Communications’ control, include, but are not limited to, those risk factors discussed in Tata Communications’ various filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Tata Communications is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements.
| Media Contacts: Isabelle Turcotte Tata Communications +1 514 868 7505 isabelle.turcotte@tatacommunications.com |
Natalie Chak Tata Communications +44 (0)7833 043 779 natalie.chak@tatacommunications.com |
Kersti Klami Hill & Knowlton +44(0)207 973 5999 kersti.klami@hillandknowlton.com.sg |
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