(26 February 2008 6:25 pm)

MUMBAI: Tata Communications has announced the expansion of its Global VPN service to China through an network to network interface (NNI) agreement with China Enterprise Netcom Corporation Limited (China Entercom), a value-added telecommunication services and integrated IT solutions provider and subsidiary of CITIC (China International Trust and Investment Corporation).

Through this NNI, Tata Communications and China Entercom have interconnected their respective multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) infrastructures. Tata Communications' multi-national corporation customers VPN connectivity reach beyond the existing 120 cities in India and 19 major business centers across North America, Asia, and Europe to now also include 347 cities throughout China.

Additionally customers can connect with dual PoP locations in tier-one cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

"Tata Communications' agreement with China Entercom allows us to serve our many global and India MNC customers who require a single scalable and reliable global VPN with deep reach into both India and China, and broad reach around the world," said Tata Communications global data and mobility services director Vinod Kumar. "China and India are the engines driving the globalizing information economy, and, it is critical for MNC's to establish reliable infrastructure in these markets."

Kumar added, "Carrier partnerships are critical to provide the deep global reach our customers' networks require. Our agreement with China Entercom is part of a larger MPLS expansion plan that will include other NNI agreements, as well as the expansion of Tata Communications' international on-net in key strategic regions and emerging markets that are of high value to our customers, including the Middle East, South Africa, Philippines, and Malaysia."

China Entercom president and CEO Zhu Jian Hua said, " The integration of Tata Communications' high performance IP network with China Entercom's IPVPN coverage in greater China will provide superior connectivity in the Asia region and to the world."