India's Tejas Networks bags $84.7M deal from BSNL

Tejas Networks, part of Tata Group, has announced that it has been awarded a deal worth 6.96 billion Indian rupees (US$84.70 million) by the Indian government-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) to upgrade its pan-India IP-MPLS-based Access and Aggregation Network (MAAN). This is the largest order ever received by Tejas.

As part of this contract, Tejas will supply, install and commission 13,000 of its TJ1400 series access and aggregation routers over the next 18 months. Tejas is one of India's early telecom startups and one of the few Indian equipment makers to have made its presence felt in the global telecom industry. It was acquired by the Tata Group recently to increase its presence in the telecom sector.

Figure 1: Tata Group has recently acquired Tejas.
(Source: Seemanta Dutta/Alamy Stock Photo)

The deal is in keeping with the government's Atmanirbhar (self-reliance) policy, which seeks to reduce India's dependency on imported telecom gear. "The company won this order while competing against top tier global lenders in an open tender, after being technically shortlisted and upon submitting the lowest commercial pet," says Tejas in a press release.

Tata's global ambitions

The contract is also crucial for Tata Group, which is trying to position itself as a global telecom vendor. "It provides us an excellent opportunity to deploy at scale, our carrier routing products and establish world-class capabilities in the critical routing technology areas," says Sanjay Nayak, Tejas Networks' managing director and CEO, in the release.

Nayak, who founded Tejas in 2000, has recently sought voluntary retirement to pursue personal interests. Once Nayak steps down, before the annual general meeting of the company later this year, Anand Athreya will take over as the company's MD and CEO.

Tejas is also part of the consortium led by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is likely to get the INR245 billion ($2.98 billion) deal for the deployment of BSNL's 4G network. The BSNL's board has already approved the deal and it is now awaiting approval from the group of ministers.

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— Gagandeep Kaur, Contributing Editor, special to Light Reading