Powering Telecom: Robust and reliable digital highways from POWERGRID

Starting out as the telecom vertical of power major Power Grid Corporation of India (POWERGRID), POWERGRID Teleservices (PowerTel), now a wholly owned subsidiary, has made steady and significant progress towards becoming one of the reliable names in the Indian telecom industry. It continues to be the only telecom service provider with a pan India optical ground wire (OPGW) network. Recently, it launched international long distance (ILD) services to neighbouring countries, and is now aiming to enter India’s growing data centre (DC) segment. A look at India’s telecom journey over the past 25 years, PowerTel’s growing role in the sector and future focus areas…

Remarks by Sanjay Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, PowerTel

India’s telecom journey over the past 25 years

India’s telecom journey has been an integral part of the country’s growth trajectory over the last 25 years, and the sector’s contribution to the economy cannot be overemphasised. India’s telecom story is a story of exceptional entrepreneurship, exponential growth and sectoral consolidation. From a telephone subscriber base of less than 30 million, with around 100,000 internet users and teledensity at a mere 2.81 per cent, in March 2000, the country’s teledensity now stands at more than 85 per cent with over 1 billion mobile subscribers and nearly 1 billion broadband subscribers having access to scores of services spanning e-commerce, digital payments, remote education, telemedicine and social connectivity through high-speed data. High-speed wired broadband connections are now being made available even to hitherto unconnected difficult and remote locations. From as many as 15 players competing in the telecom space circa 2010, the number of major telecom players is now down to four, as a result of consolidation in the last decade.

Digitalisation is at the core of the Indian economy, with the telecom sector as its backbone. A robust and reliable telecom network helped the country tide over the Covid-19-induced lockdown by ensuring continuity of economic activity.

India is experiencing a data revolution, riding on reform-based policies and government initiatives, which are transforming the way citizens communicate, study, work, transact, etc. Developments in the telecom sector have also helped in making governance more effective, leading to significant contributions to the country’s GDP and job creation.

Evolution of PowerTel’s role during this period

POWERGRID, a Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Power and one of the world’s largest power transmission utilities, entered the Indian telecom sector at the beginning of the century. It leveraged its country-wide network by laying OPGW on its extra-high voltage transmission lines, introducing to the sector a network that was reliable, robust, free from the rodent menace, vandalism-proof and unaffected by other infrastructure development works. Initially, the company started providing services under the Infrastructure Provider (IP)-II License, later migrating to the National Long Distance and Internet Service Provider (ISP) Licenses and eventually to the Unified License with various service authorisations. Based on these niche propositions and supported by customer centricity, POWERGRID, echoing its credibility in the inter-state power transmission business, has created a name for itself in the telecom sector as well. Today, we serve a very diverse clientele comprising all major telecom service providers (TSPs), government departments, ISPs, content players, hyperscalers, IT and enterprise customers, etc.

PowerTel was established as a telecom business vertical of POWERGRID. It is utilising the company’s power transmission infrastructure, together with its own fibre optic network within cities, to provide various services to its customers. Further, PowerTel is the only TSP with a pan-India OPGW network, which helps it to reach the remotest and the most difficult terrains of the country, contributing to bridging the digital divide.

While continuing to be a bulk bandwidth solution provider to large TSPs, the company also provides a bouquet of services including point-to-point leased lines, multiprotocol label switching-based virtual private networks, internet services and software-defined wide area network solutions to other customers across various segments. The company also recently launched ILD services to neighbouring countries, and is shortly going to commence DC services.

PowerTel’s foray into the DC space

The DC sector in India is witnessing unforeseen growth driven by the continued digitalisation of India’s economy. The government’s thrust on data localisation, AI adoption and digital transformation; growing internet penetration; the favourable DC policies of state governments; and the rise in cloud computing services are some of the key factors driving DC demand.

At PowerTel, we are aiming to launch DC services soon. We are currently implementing a pilot DC at Manesar, near Gurgaon, in Haryana. The DC will initially provide colocation services, followed by managed cloud services under infrastructure-as-a-service. When fully commissioned, it will have a capacity of 1,000 racks with a power rating of 14 MW. It is being designed to meet Tier-III DC standards. The capacity will be built in a phased manner. We are looking at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology empanelment along with other certifications such as Indian Green Building Council Gold. We are looking at developing a Zone-2 DC in Chennai. Land for the project has been acquired, and the work shall commence soon.

Given the growing demand for DC capacities, we believe that there will be space for various players. PowerTel, through its various service offerings, already has multiple touch points with its customers. Over the years, PowerTel has been a reliable partner to the diverse set of clients it serves. We are confident we will be able to successfully position ourselves as their preferred partner in the DC business.

Key business highlights of 2024

This was a very significant year in the history of PowerTel as a separate entity. During 2024, PowerTel completed the transition from being a department within POWERGRID to being its wholly-owned subsidiary.

In addition to the DC developments, PowerTel made a major stride in expanding beyond India by establishing international gateways to provide telecom connectivity to Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The company also secured its first ever order in the ILD business segment. We also expanded our engagement with a major TSP and various over-the-top content players, in addition to partnering with various government entities to create/expand their telecom infrastructure. PowerTel has partnered with the Meghalaya government to strengthen telecom connectivity in the state. To meet the growing business demands, capacity additions were also undertaken during the year.

Business priorities in 2025

Completion of our pilot DC and onboarding customers will be among the top priorities in 2025, in addition to expanding our cross-border ILD business with neighbouring countries. PowerTel is undertaking a number of projects for the power transmission sector, and completion of those will also be top priorities. Commencement of DC works at Chennai will be one of these priorities too.

Capacity addition, network augmentation and infrastructure upgradation to continue meeting the ever-increasing demands of the sector are always priorities in our business.

Roadmap for future

While it is true that PowerTel is now identified as a separate company, it is also equally true that POWERGRID had always promoted its telecom services under the brand PowerTel. Therefore, whether in its earlier capacity as a vertical within POWERGRID or now as a separate company, PowerTel as a brand has been envisioned as a reliable and trusted partner to its diverse customers, providing them state-of-the-art connectivity solutions established on the backbone of India’s largest power transmission utility’s overhead fibre OPGW network. PowerTel always takes pride in being a part of their business plans for the future.

Going forward, PowerTel aims to foster strategic collaborations to serve its customers with a robust, secure and reliable communication infrastructure, powering a smarter and more connected future.