'Globalisation starts and ends at India'

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Gold the most preferred investment

: I do to help you invest more here?” We were impressed by his pragmatism even then. He advised us to invest in poverty. You normally invest in markets that have rich people. But companies like GE realised the potential that India could offer.

As for the US recession, that would mean consumers will spend lesser and it could have an impact on other parts of the world too. But let me reassert that India is a big growth area for us. In the past three years, BT in Asia Pacific has invested more than $100 million in expanding its regional network

Moreover, recessionary trends like credit crunch in the US should not slow down our business as organisations like banks will want to give business to BT and focus on their core business.

How would you compare the Indian telecom infrastructure to others?

India seems to have done well in mobility space. But broadband penetration here is very low. Even the quality of enterprise infrastructure is not always world-class. And India needs to improve this if you have the appetite for global market in these areas. Today, several organisations like banks are moving to virtualisation as they decentralise their operations. To capture more data centre business, you need to build high level of resilience in your networks.

How do you see the new generation networks shaping up? Do you expect a big part of your growth to come from 21 CN?

Our global 21 CN is expanding quickly, adding a new city around the world every week. Our next-generation network will be the broadest, richest and most resilient in the world, enabling companies and organisations to instantly trade across the globe with high speed and great resilience. Two years back, we announced a $21-million investment in a global IP-based voice platform, which will see the current legacy TDM network being replaced by an MPLS-based network across over thirty countries worldwide. The initial rollout, which started in 2006, will eventually replace 16 national networks with one single IP infrastructure. When finally complete, it is expected to deliver operational cost savings of around £1 billion every year.

Where does India stand in this digitally networked economy?

India is a core part of BT’s DNA and in creating a mosaic for a completely digitally networked economy. With a huge number of companies turning towards globalisation, it’s imperative that we help build and grow a digitised economy.