We are strategically placed to offer data services to all our customers

You have been betting big on enterprise data solutions.
With BWA auction over, do we see you partnering with bid winners like Qualcomm?

Tulip is 100% enterprise data services focused company. We have a unique
portfolio of enterprise data services ranging from MPLS VPN, corporate internet,
managed services, data center solutions, international connectivity, etc. I
believe, in India the enterprise data services space has tremendous opportunity
and Tulip is strategically placed to offer data services to all customers.
Qualcomm's plan to sell 26% stake to Tulip, is only a market speculation.

The company earned a decent 22% growth in the fiscal. What
do you think gave a major boost to the business?

The company is currently undergoing a business transformation. Being a
leader in the enterprise data connectivity space, company's growth in the last
fiscal was primarily driven by the enterprise data services business, with
increased traction in existing and new industry segments like banking, finance,
and government, etc. We offered a broader range of enterprise services through
our fiber rollout. Currently, over 4,000 kms of optical fiber is being laid in
the country, connecting the CDB's in all major cities.

During the year 2009-10, we further expanded our last mile
services in the wireless segment of MPLS/ IP VPN. Our combination of a niche
infrastructure in 1,700 cities and high level of redundancy on all routes has
helped us to achieve high uptimes. This has enabled us to consolidate our
position as the country's largest data network provider. Total revenues for the
FY 2009-10 were reported as Rs 1966.4 crore.

What are the new trends that the industry is observing in
the enterprise data solutions space?

Increased adoption of technologies such as cloud computing, virtualization
and unified communications are giving substantial boost to the enterprise data
connectivity segment. Server virtualization is driving the adoption of the
latest data center unified fabric technologies that seamlessly merge storage and
network infrastructure into a unified, highly flexible transport. Network
Admission Control that allows organizations to maintain a flexible leash over
the security hygiene of users, is getting established as an essential
technology.

What kind of developments are you expecting for your
business from fiber segment?

We have successfully laid 4,000 km of last mile optical fiber in various
cities like Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad,
Kolkata covering major commercial areas. This fiber rollout has helped Tulip
grab 600+ customers pan-India, successfully using Tulip fiber for their data
connectivity requirements.

Heena Jhingan

heenaj@cybermedia.co.in