VSNL slashes bandwidth rates
Mumbai: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) has cut the prices of its international bandwidth services by up to 40 per cent. The company has reduced the prices of international private leased circuits (IPLC) by up to 25 per cent and Internet leased lines (ILL) up to 40 per cent with effect from September 1. The move is likely to benefit BPOs and call centres.

VSNL has also announced its plans to invest $600 million jointly with other leading global carriers to build two submarine cable systems linking India with Europe, the US and other Asian countries.

VSNL also plans to lay two submarine cable systems — one between India and Europe, and the other linking Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan (referred to as Intra-Asia by the company).

These multi-terabit capacity systems would interconnect with VSNL's existing global network that has over 20 terabits of capacity. According to company officials, the India-Europe cable will provide connectivity to the Gulf region and the African continent. This link will also supplement VSNL's existing bandwidth capacity in several consortium cables in the region.
The Intra-Asia cable will enhance the link between VSNL's Tata Indicom Cable (that links Chennai to Singapore) and the TGN Pacific Cable (linking Japan and the US).

Officials said the India-Europe link would be completed by mid-2008 and the Intra Asia linking would be done by the third quarter of 2007. The former link will be completed at an estimated project cost of $350 million and the remaining would be spent on laying the Intra-Asia submarine cable. The investment will be funded through strategic partnership with leading carriers, internal accruals and external borrowings.
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HM gets WB government nod to sell surplus land
Kolkata: The West Bengal Government has given its approval to Hindustan Motors to sell 314 acres of surplus land at the company's Uttarpara plant in Hooghly district. According to sources, the company proposes to raise Rs85 crore from alternative use of the land. This amount would be utilised for the revival of the company. Real estate, auto ancillary units and an IT park would come up on the land.
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Glenmark to ship epilepsy drug
Mumbai: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals will soon start shipoing its epilepsy drug Gabapentin to the US after receiving approval from the US Food and Drugs Administration to market oral tablets of Gabapentin in the 600 mg and 800 mg dosages.

Gabapentin is the active ingredient in Pfizer's blockbuster drug Neurontin, and several Indian companies are part of the race to get a slice of this market. The drug's generic market size is $328 million, according to Glenmark.

Glenmark manufactures the drug at its solid-oral formulation facility in Goa. Gabapentin is the fourth Abbreviated New Drug Application filed by Glenmark from the Goa facility to receive US regulatory approvals, after Fluconazole, Zonisamide and Meloxicam.

The latest approval will take the number of generics from Glenmark in the US market to 10, including two controlled substances: Codeine Phosphate launched in June and Morphine Sulphate, which is in the process of being launched.
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Goodyear India plans expansion
Mumbai: Goodyear plans to introduce a new brand, "Excellence" range of car radials in the country. It will be Goodyear's first tyre range that will have low profile tyres available in the domestic market. These tyres are for the after replacement market, whereby, customers opt for them due to their upsize range. Technically speaking the tyres enhance road grip and handling characteristics of the car.

India plans to invest Rs80 crore to expand production capacity at its Aurangabad plant. With the expansion the daily production at the plant will go up to 10,000 car tyres from the current level of 4,500. The expansion would be completed by 2008.

The Aurangabad facility of the company makes passenger car tyres for the local market. It is the sole tyre company to be the OE (original equipment) supplier to all the car manufacturers in the country. It has now decided to focus on the passenger car market with value-added services and diverse product range, therefore, the focus and expansion plans for its Aurangabad facility.

Goodyear India is the largest supplier of tractor tyres in the country.
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Bosch India to add 1,000 employees each year
Bangalore: Robert Bosch India plans to add 1,000 employees per year to its workforce. The company's headcount stands at 3,500 and will rise to 3,900 by this year-end. Of the 3,500 employees, 2,000 are employed in the automotive division and 25 in the chip design and testing domain.

The company also inaugurated a chip testing facility within its campus in the city.

The facility was set up with an investment of Rs5.5 crore (1 million euros) in equipment and auxiliary systems including mixed signal automated test machines.

Company officials said that the facility which conforms to Class 100,000 (the standard for clean-room purity), could be upgraded to Class 1,000. Testing is on 350nm chip process technology and is limited to packaged ICs (chips) and mixed signal devices. The facility will be used for validating tester software used for testing in-house designed circuits and semiconductor devices.
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Kinetic Comm enters into joint venture with Italian co
Pune: Kinetic Communications has entered into a 50-50 joint venture with the Italy-based Ducati Energia for production of auto electrical components. The joint venture Ducati Engergia India will be located in Pune and will manufacture flywheel magnetos, CDI, ignition system, regulators and ECU for two- and three-wheelers, a statement released here said. The company will set up its own manufacturing facility in the city, which has a large automobile community.

The facility will cater to the domestic market and could also potentially become an important outsourcing hub for Ducati Energia for the Far East, European and other world-wide markets, the statement said.

Ducati Energia has a turnover of 100 million euro and manufactures electronic and contact ignition systems for mopeds, scooters, motorcycles and stationary engines.
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Ericsson gets Rs4,500-cr order from Bharti Airtel
New Delhi: Swedish telecom vendor Ericsson has received a $1 billion (about Rs4,500 crore) contract from Bharti Airtel. The contract extends over three years and covers expansion and upgrade of its GSM and GPRS network as well as managed services to increase network capacity and services footprint.

The contract will enable Bharti Airtel rapidly expand its mobile services footprint further and reach out to all towns and cities in 15 telecom circles in the country.

The three-year service contract with Ericsson is towards the design, planning, supply and installation commissioning of Airtel networks in these circles, a Bharti statement said.

Last year, Bharti Airtel had signed a 250 million dollar (Rs1,075 crore) contract with Ericsson to set up and maintain Airtel's cellular network in 3,000 towns and villages across the country. In 2004, they had signed a $400 million agreement for supply of GSM network.

Ericsson will also upgrade the network with mobile softswitch (Media Gateway and MSC Servers), the solution that paves the way to an all-IP network. Bharti Airtel will be able to reduce the operational costs and introduce new services in a cost-efficient way, the release added.

The scope of the contract covers 15 Airtel circles of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, UP (West), Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, UP (East), Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East.
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Punj Lloyd enters into JV with German firm Kaefer
Mumbai: Punj Lloyd has entered into a 49:51 joint venture agreement with Germany-based KAEFER GmbH, a world leader in insulation business. The joint venture company will have three directors - two nominated by KAEFER and one by the company.

The company currently executes insulation projects like cryogenic insulation for LPG and LNG terminals, hot and cold insulation for oil and gas sector, fertiliser plants and power plants & acoustic insulation according to a released from Punj Lloyd.
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