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in the realm of Vikshit Bharat (Developed India) 2047 vision.
“A lot of our success in optical has been as part of those data center build-outs.”“So TCS is one of our important customers as well for that, for data center applications,” the chief executive said.
Tejas further received a significant purchase order to supply its indigenous 4G RAN solutions for a mobile network in South Asia, marking its first major international wireless win.
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NEW DELHI: Indigenous telecom gear makers expect incremental, meaningful revenue opportunity from artificial intelligence ( AI )-driven hyperscale data centers in India and global markets, their top executives have said in recent weeks, highlighting their strategies to diversify beyond traditional telco-driven connectivity businesses.Following heightened activity around data centre infrastructure and acceleration toward artificial intelligence (AI), India is set to become a powerhouse poised to play a leadership role in the Global South. The country's technology-backed roadmap, once aligned with the domestic industry, may boost the Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) ambition.The Centre has offered a 20-year tax holiday for multinational companies providing cloud services through India-based data centers to position the country as a global hub for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud infrastructure. in the realm of Vikshit Bharat (Developed India) 2047 vision. Tata Communications , a part of Indian congomerate Tata Group said that data center-to-data center connectivity is a significant opportunity globally, and in India, citing a recent study, said that it is estimated to reach $1 billion by 2030.Mumbai-based Indian multinational operates a global network of close to 25 Tier-3 and AI-optimized data centers, which are seamlessly integrated with one of the largest wholly-owned subsea cable networks. These facilities provide colocation, hybrid cloud, and managed infrastructure services across markets worldwide.“The number of data centres coming out in India is going to only explode, and Tata Communications is uniquely positioned to capture it,” said Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, managing director and chief executive, Tata Communications, at the Q4FY26 post-earnings conference call with analysts.Further, Lakshminarayanan said that given a true B2B network, the company has robust data centre-to-data centre connectivity and a software platform to offer bandwidth on demand. Tata Communications see itself as well aligned to capture the growing opportunity.Delhi-based HFCL sees hyperscale data centers, AI workloads, and cloud infrastructure expansion are adding an incremental demand of approximately 100 to 150 million fibre kilometres globally for optical fibre cables, over and above conventional telecom sector requirements.“In addition, we are seeing strong traction in our data centre interconnect solutions,” said Mahendra Nahata, managing director, HFCL, at the company’s Q4FY26 post-earnings conference call with analysts. “We have decided to increase, on a multi-fold basis, our manufacturing capacities for data centre interconnect solutions in our subsidiary, HTL Limited.”The homegrown company expects that data center interconnect solutions will contribute about ₹400 crore additional revenue in FY27 and about ₹800 crore in FY28.In November 2025, a consortium led by HFCL, including state-run Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) and Aerial Telecom, declared the lowest bidder for contracts totaling nearly ₹13,000 crore under the amended BharatNet Phase-3 programme in UP East, UP West, and Punjab. This includes a separate ₹2,167 crore portion specifically through RVNL for optical fiber cables and maintenance.In March 2026, HFCL signed a $1.1 billion (~₹10,159 crore) long-term global contract for optical fiber cables, significantly boosting its export visibility.In the just-ended financial year, HFCL also pivoted to the defense sector through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions. By the end of March 31, 2026, the combined defense and aerospace order book stood at approximately ₹2,230 crore.Tejas Networks, a Tata Group firm, said that it supplied significant volumes of 100G and 400G WDM systems to a tier-1 telecom carrier in India for its 5G backhaul, enterprise business, and hyperscaler connectivity.“Our high-capacity optical, which supports 1.2 terabit per channel, is going to scale to 1.6 terabit and beyond to support the terabit-scale data center connectivity of the future. Our multi-terabit edge node is going to scale in capacity and interface again, and also integrate with compute capacity and compute infrastructure to support edge AI applications,” Arnob Roy, managing director & chief executive, Tejas Networks, said at the company’s Q4FY26 post-earnings conference call.The wireless mobile network gear maker said it is engaged with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and other data center operators to supply its products. “A lot of our success in optical has been as part of those data center build-outs.”“So TCS is one of our important customers as well for that, for data center applications,” the chief executive said. “We are closely engaged with them on their future business plans. But they are not the only ones for our data center business-related growth.”Tejas’ business in recent quarters has been driven by gear supplies for the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s (BSNL) 4G network roll-out at 1 lakh sites nationwide.“We deployed our largest indigenous router networks in the country through the BSNL 4G backhaul network, or the MPLS-IP Based Access and Aggregation Network (MAAN) network, as well as for the BharatNet Phase 3 network,” Roy had said.Additionally, by the end of March 2026, Tejas had shipped over 17,000 routers, out of a total planned ~60,000 units, to be deployed across 9 states and 5 union territories, under the BharatNet Phase-3 initiative.It also signed a strategic deal with the Japanese NEC Corporation to manufacture and supply 5G Massive MIMO radios globally. Tejas further received a significant purchase order to supply its indigenous 4G RAN solutions for a mobile network in South Asia, marking its first major international wireless win. Moreover, it has also entered into a strategic partnership with Rakuten Symphony to develop integrated Open RAN solutions for global go-to-market efforts.Gurugram-based Pratap Technolocrats Private Limited (PTPL) said that its business model reflects company's commitment to Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) by building critical infrastructure capabilities within India while preparing for next-generation opportunities across AI, data centers, and advanced energy sectors."We are strengthening leadership across telecom, manufacturing, energy storage, and digital infrastructure in India, but the next phase of growth will be focused on strategic international expansion in the next two years," Shakti Singh Shekhawat, director at PTPL, said.The domestic company, according to him, is strategically building our presence in utility-scale energy storage, data center ecosystems, AI-enabled infrastructure management, and smart industrial systems. "These sectors will strengthen our position as a diversified, future-ready enterprise.”In the financial year that ended March 31, 2026, PTPL secured three major BharatNet Phase III middle-mile network packages for Rajasthan, Haryana, and Assam and won a landmark ₹776 crore NTPC contract for the deployment of 570MWh Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)."We are actively evaluating expansion into international markets where demand for telecom infrastructure, OFC solutions, HDPE ducts, battery systems, and digital infrastructure is growing rapidly," Singh added.The company's broader vision is centred around AI, data centres, and OFC as part of interconnected pillars of future infrastructure.Pune-based Sterlite Technologies (STL), too, is focusing on expanding its OFC market share while meaningfully increasing connectivity and scaling the contribution from its enterprise and data center segments.Last year, STL demerged its services business and rebranded as Invenia. It sees optical fibre rollouts, data centre capacity expansions, and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven threat detection as potential revenue drivers.STL has recently won a $1.11 billion, multi-year deal from a hyperscaler to supply optical connectivity products.Prior to that, Invenia-STL Networks secured a ₹359-crore data center infrastructure contract from PowerGrid Teleservices Limited.STL’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Ajay Jhanjhari said that with accelerating AI data center investments and pipeline visibility, the vendor expects the enterprise and data center segment to scale up to 30% of revenues in the fiscal year 2027.In late 2024, a consortium of STL and Dilip Buildcon won a ₹1,625 crore project for the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh regions under the BharatNet Phase-3 programme. In collaboration with the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), it also achieved a breakthrough in India’s first quantum-secured network using multi-core fiber technology.In India, Google, along with the second-largest teleco Bharti Airtel and domestic behemoth Adani, is building a massive AI Hub in Vizag with a multi-year investment of $15 billion. Reliance Jio is building a massive portfolio of hyperscale and AI-ready data centers through strategic collaborations with Nvidia, Google, and Microsoft, and a joint venture with Digital Realty and Brookfield, named "Digital Connexion".Billionaire Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani-controlled conglomerates, Reliance Industries (RIL) and Adani Group, have cumulatively committed to investing more than $210 billion in developing AI data centers.These multi-billion-dollar investments are in addition to the capital being infused by the broader data center ecosystem in India across multiple states, as the demand for AI computing continues to surge.Over 95% of the datacenter capacity increase in India in the next five years is expected to come from leased facilities, retail and wholesale, and the rest from hyperscalers for dedicated AI infrastructure, according to industry estimates.
