Tata Communications today unveiled its business plans for the Middle East region earmarking $ 200 million investments in the next two years towards development of its telecom operations in the region.

The company will also be building a new connectivity network in the region as part of TGN Gulf Project with names such as Bahrain Internet Exchange in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Nawras of Oman, Qatar Telecom of Qatar, Mobily of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates partnering it.

The new cable network will enable the company to offer services such as Global Ethernet, MPLS based VPN, Managed Security, IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and Global Telepresence. 

On the occasion, Vinod Kumar, President and COO of Tata Communication, said, “We firmly believe in the growth potential and increasing dynamism in the Middle East region. This conviction translates tangibly into investments that will increase our infrastructure and services coverage throughout the region.  Most importantly, this is steered by the strong foundational partnerships that we have formed with leading Middle Eastern operators.  We see the Middle East as a crucial building block in our Emerging Markets strategy and in delivering the “new world of communications” to our global enterprise customers.  Along with our partners, we are confident of creating sustained mutual benefits while serving global and Middle Eastern companies with a unique service portfolio.” 

The TGN project which started in 2009 is scheduled for completion by 2011 and will connect the region to the rest of the world.

Radwan Moussalli, Tata Communications’ Managing Director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), said, “We are proud to bring a much needed resilient cable system to the Middle East region in association with Bahrain Internet Exchange, Nawras, Qatar Telecom, Mobily and Etisalat.  We are extremely happy to be partnering with all of them in the interest of further developing this region. Tata Communications commits to not only this investment, but also to bring expertise, resources and a world class team in support of all our partners as we introduce the state of the art global telecom services to the region.”