The Hindu Business Line : The world's within reach

The Hindu Business Line : The world's within reach: "THE owners of the British India Submarine Telegraph Company, which rolled out India's first submarine telegraph cable between Bombay and the UK in 1870, would have never imagined that Indians could ever control this huge goldmine buried deep under the dark ocean floor.
One hundred and thirty five years later, Indian telecom operators Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Reliance Infocomm, Bharti Televentures and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, with ownership of six major under-sea cable systems, are all set to become the new barons of international bandwidth, a status that was enjoyed by US operators such as Cable & Wireless, AT&T and MCI until a few months ago.The reason for this change in balance of power has been a spate of acquisitions by the Indian operators in recent months.
It all began with Reliance Infocomm acquiring 100 per cent equity in FLAG Telecom for $207 million (about Rs 1,000 crore) with a view to garnering market share in the global infrastructure segment.
FLAG had a market capital of $7 billion at its peak and has laid submarine cables of around 50,000 km across the globe and is a major provider of American connectivity into key regions such as West Asia and South Asia, with hubs in West Asia. "