Tata Communications and RailTel form digital infrastructure alliance

Tata Communications and RailTel Corporation of India have entered into a strategic association aimed at advancing next-generation digital infrastructure in India and internationally.

RailTel, a Navratna public sector undertaking, operates one of India’s largest neutral telecom networks, with more than 63,000 route kilometres of optical fibre connecting cities, towns, rural areas and over 6,000 railway stations. It provides information and communication technology (ICT) services to government departments, public sector organisations, banks, educational institutions and enterprises across the country.

Under the association, RailTel’s national network infrastructure will be combined with Tata Communications’ global network capabilities, cloud services, omnichannel communication platforms and cybersecurity expertise. The collaboration is intended to support the modernisation of network infrastructure, strengthen cyber security measures, improve customer experience and enable secure, sovereign cloud adoption for sensitive workloads. It also seeks to incorporate AI-enabled platforms designed to enhance visibility, reliability and operational performance.

For RailTel, the arrangement is expected to expand its ability to deliver advanced services across its data centre, managed services, cloud and cybersecurity portfolio. For Tata Communications, it provides an opportunity to extend its network and digital infrastructure capabilities into public sector and enterprise environments at a national scale.

Government ministries, state authorities, public sector undertakings and enterprises using RailTel’s network may benefit from improved connectivity, system resilience and data protection. Citizen-facing services, including railway Wi-Fi, public broadband, surveillance systems and digital governance platforms, are also expected to see improvements in performance and reliability.

Sanjai Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of RailTel, said the collaboration would support customers in modernising systems and improving resilience while continuing to serve public sector requirements.

Sumeet Walia, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Tata Communications, said the association aims to support the development of secure and scalable digital infrastructure as India advances its digital and AI capabilities.