JOHANNESBURG, April 16 /CNW/ - Tata Communications, a leading provider of a new world of communications, has announced its participation in the US$600 million, new West African Cable System. This investment will further boost Tata Communications' global reach and enhance the company's investments in theregion.

A multinational consortium of leading telecommunications operatorsrecently signed a Construction and Maintenance Agreement (C&MA) and SupplyContract for the implementation of the West Africa Cable System (WACS).

WACS is a submarine fibre optic cable that will link countries inSouthern Africa, Western Africa and Europe, with at least 3.84 terabits persecond of international bandwidth. The planned landing points include SouthAfrica, Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic ofCongo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Cape Verde, Canary

Islands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The landings in Namibia, the DRC,

the Republic of Congo and Togo will provide the first direct connections for

these countries to the global submarine cable network.

Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks has been contracted to supply the

14,000 km long cable system with all associated landing points, which is

expected to be ready for service by 2011.

Costing about US$600-million, the project has brought together a

multitude of nations and some of the world's most influential

telecommunications players in a joint effort to use state-of-the-art

technology in linking more people more efficiently than ever before.

The West Africa Cable System represents a significant telecommunications

infrastructure investment through a joint effort of a number of African and

Global operators and will have ample capacity to serve the region's

international connectivity needs for many years to come.

The telecommunications companies that have signed the WACS Construction

and Maintenance Agreement include Angola Telecom, Broadband Infraco, Cable &

Wireless, MTN, Telecom Namibia, Portugal Telecom, Sotelco, Tata

Communications, Telkom SA, Togo Telecom and Vodacom.

WACS will provide Africa with faster and better connectivity to Europe

and the world at far cheaper rates; savings which will be passed onto

consumers.

"We are very pleased to be participating in the West Africa Cable System.

The investment is another step for Tata Communications in bolstering its

capabilities in the African market, and will enhance our service propositions

together with our partner Neotel in bringing added diversity into South

Africa." said Mr. Byron Clatterbuck, Senior Vice President-Global Transmission

Services at Tata Communications.

About Tata Communications

Tata Communications, a member of the US$62.5 billion Tata Group, is a

leading global provider of a new world of communications. The emerging markets

communications leader leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain

expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions

to multi-national and Indian enterprises, service providers and Indian

consumers.

Tata Communications' range of services include transmission, IP,

converged voice, mobility, managed network connectivity, hosting and storage,

managed security, managed collaboration and business transformation for global

enterprises and service providers, as well as Internet, retail broadband and

content services for Indian consumers. The Tata Global Network encompasses one

of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks, a Tier-1 IP

network, with connectivity to more than 200 countries across 300 Pops, and

more than 1 million square feet of data centre and co-location facilities.

Tata Communications' unique emerging market depth and breadth of reach

includes a national fibre backbone network and access to network in over 60

cities and 125 Pops in India, strategic investments in South African converged

services operator, Neotel, Sri Lanka and Nepal and, subject to fulfilment of

conditions precedent, a 50% ownership in China Enterprise Communications (CEC)

providing full country VPN coverage in China.

Servicing customers from its offices in over 80 cities in 40 countries,

Tata Communications is the number one global international wholesale voice

operator and number one provider of international long distance, enterprise

data and Internet services in India, the Company was named "Best Wholesale

Carrier" at the World Communications Awards in 2006, "Best Pan-Asian Wholesale

Provider" at the 2006 and 2007 Capacity Magazine Global Wholesale

Telecommunications Awards and was awarded "Best Progress in Emerging Markets"

at the 2008 Mobile Communication Awards.

Tata Communications Limited along with its global subsidiaries, (Tata

Communications), is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock

Exchange of India and its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

(NYSE: TCL)

Forward-looking and cautionary statements

Certain words and statements in this release concerning Tata

Communications and its prospects, and other statements, including those

relating to Tata Communications' expected financial position, business

strategy, the future development of Tata Communications' operations, and the

general economy in India, are forward-looking statements. Such statements

involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including

financial, regulatory and environmental, as well as those relating to industry

growth and trend projections, which may cause actual results, performance or

achievements of Tata Communications, or industry results, to differ materially

from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The

important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements

to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, among

others, failure to increase the volume of traffic on Tata Communications'

network; failure to develop new products and services that meet customer

demands and generate acceptable margins; failure to successfully complete

commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new

products and services, including voice transmission services; failure to

stabilise or reduce the rate of price compression on certain of the company's

communications services; failure to integrate strategic acquisitions and

changes in government policies or regulations of India and, in particular,

changes relating to the administration of Tata Communications' industry; and,

in general, the economic, business and credit conditions in India. Additional

factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ

materially from such forward-looking statements, many of which are not in Tata

Communications' control, include, but are not limited to, those risk factors

discussed in Tata Communications' various filings with the United States

Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at

http://www.sec.gov. Tata Communications is under no obligation to, and

expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking

statements.