Australia's Telstra has announced plans to provide fixed-line voice and data services to the Indian enterprise market.
Telstra International, through joint venture Microland, has just received three licenses to provide international and national long-distance phone services and ISP services, the company said.
The operator will initially target seven cities - Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune – and aims to launch within the next six months.
Telstra will also use Mumbai and Chennai as Indian gateway into its international backbone network.
As well as connectivity, the company plans to offer end-to-end managed services and in-country call center support.
While India's mobile sector is strained to breaking pointwith competitors, the fixed-line market is still stagnating in a nascent stage. Total wireline subscribers were just 34.07 million at the end of August, down from 34.18 million at the end of July, according to the latest statistics from regulator Trai
Overall wireline teledensity is just 2.84%, and state-owned BSNL and MTNL – which both have universal service obligations to fulfil - together hold an over 80% share of the market.