Tata Communications to Invest Rs 4,350 Cr in AI-Ready Fibre Infrastructure

Tata Communications is investing Rs 4,350 crore to build an AI-ready fibre network, known as India's AI Super Highway, to connect data centres and meet the surging demand for AI and cloud services across major hubs in the country.

Tata Communications Unveils AI Super Highway Project

New Delhi [India], October 26 (ANI): Tata Communications on Monday announced plans to invest Rs 4,350 crore (USD 400-450 million) to build around 10,000 kilometres of AI-ready fibre connectivity infrastructure across India to connect major data centre hubs and meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services.

In a press release, the company said the proposed network, called India's AI Super Highway, will provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity between data centres, cloud platforms and enterprises. According to the company's regulatory filing, the investment is expected to add around 6 petabits per second (Pbps) of network capacity between FY2030 and FY2036. Tata Communications currently has a network capacity of 1.25 Pbps, with utilisation at around 70-80 per cent. The investment will be funded through operating cash flows.

Strategic Vision and Growth Opportunity

Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, Managing Director and CEO of Tata Communications, said the growing demand for data centre connectivity presents a significant business opportunity. "We are excited about the opportunity in the India data centre-to-data centre connectivity, which we believe could evolve into a market exceeding USD 1 billion over the medium term," he said. "With our planned investments, we are building on our existing strengths to create one of the most comprehensive data centre connectivity platforms in the market, positioning us to capture this significant growth opportunity," he added.

Project Phasing and Infrastructure Goals

The project will be developed in three phases, starting with the Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad-Chennai corridor, which the company identified as a key route for AI and large-scale data centre growth. In subsequent phases, the network will be extended to emerging data centre hubs, including Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Jamnagar and GIFT City. Highlighting the importance of network infrastructure for AI, Rupesh Chokshi, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Executive Vice President and Global Business Head – Network Services at Tata Communications, said, "The AI economy needs more than compute. It needs a network built for speed, scale and resilience."

Expanding India's AI and Data Centre Ecosystem

The announcement comes amid a series of major investments in India's data centre and AI infrastructure. Microsoft, which has committed USD 17.5 billion towards India's cloud and AI infrastructure, skilling and operations, announced in September that its new data centre region in Hyderabad had gone live. Google has committed USD 15 billion to develop an AI hub in Visakhapatnam, while TCS subsidiary HyperVault is developing a data centre campus of up to 1 GW in Hyderabad, with an expected investment of up to Rs 70,000 crore from the company and its partners. Amazon has also announced an additional USD 13 billion investment in AI and cloud infrastructure, including expansion of its data centre capacity in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The expansion of data centre infrastructure is increasing the need for high-capacity networks that can transfer large volumes of data reliably between computing facilities and connect Indian data centres with global markets. Government measures are also supporting the sector's growth. The Union Budget 2026-27 announced a tax holiday until 2047 for eligible foreign cloud service providers using Indian data centre infrastructure for global operations. According to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, India's installed data centre capacity increased from 375 MW in 2020 to around 1,575 MW in 2026. (ANI)

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