Tatas acquire 50% stake in Chinese company

Tata Communications (formerly VSNL) has acquired 50 per cent stake in a Chinese telecom company, China Enterprise Communications (CEC), for an undisclosed sum.

Tata Communications International Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Communications, has signed an equity joint venture agreement (EJV) with the shareholders of CEC for the acquisition of 50% equity interest in CEC.
This joint venture, which will become effective after the necessary approvals from the relevant government and regulatory bodies in China are obtained, will be the first-of-its-kind in the Chinese telecom sector after China’s entering the WTO.

CEC is a value-added telecommunications services and integrated IT solutions provider headquartered in Beijing. CEC was recently awarded a nationwide IP-VPN service license by China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII), the first telecom valued-added service license granted to a non-facilities based service provider.

CEC provides VPN connectivity reach into 347 cities in China, including a dual-pop presence in tier-one cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. This reach complements Tata Communications’ VPN presence in 120 Indian cities and 19 other major business capitals in North America, Europe and Asia.