Summary Bullets:
• Tata Communications will collaborate with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to build a high-capacity network connecting three major AWS infrastructure locations in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai.
• In a growing trend, more telecom providers are building high-capacity terrestrial networks to meet the growing demand in bandwidth contributed by the rise in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud.
Tata Communications has announced a new partnership with AWS to build and deploy a high-capacity national terrestrial network backbone, making a significant move in transforming the country’s digital infrastructure evolution. This strategic collaboration between the two supports the continued rise in demand for data-intensive workloads driven by AI and cloud adoption. In what is becoming an increasing trend among global telecom operators, with more carriers investing substantial funds to expand, or upgrade their terrestrial networks to meet future data traffic demands, contributed by data-hungry workloads such as AI/ML, while future-proofing their networks to meet the requirements of their hyperscalers and enterprise customers.
The strategic collaboration will see Tata Communications connect the hyperscaler’s three main infrastructure facilities located throughout the country with two data centers located in Mumbai and Hyderabad, and its Direct Connect and Edge Network infrastructure located in Chennai. According to the companies, the new fiber network will feature express routes designed to deliver ultra-low latency, which is viewed as essential for compute-intensive AI and ML workloads. With the fiber build tipped to be the largest construction project for the company with an estimated cable length of 18,000km boasting a network capacity of 7.2Tbps with a projected completion date by the end of 2026. The partnership will also enable businesses nationwide to build, train and deploy scalable AI applications, driving innovation across critical sectors such as healthcare, finance and education.
With more global telecom operators enhancing and modernizing their terrestrial networks to support the increased data traffic contributed by the growth of AI, telcos have significantly increased their capital expenditure, upgrading their network capabilities, including using modern technologies, such as built-in AI, ML, and cognitive computing. The trend has been gaining traction over the last 12 months. In the US, Lumen announced it would increase its capital expenditure by 30% to $4.2 billion to meet its intercity needs as the carrier looks to almost quadruple its fiber network in the coming years while launching its Private Connectivity Fabric, a custom network that includes dedicated access to existing fiber in the Lumen network providing the network capacity, performance, stability and speed primarily targeted at hyperscalers and data center providers. Additionally, Zayo have announced that they plan to construct 5,000 miles of new route miles to be completed with construction well under way connecting Phoenix to Tucson, and Chicago to both Minneapolis and Columbus. Zayo has also completed a full 400G upgrade of its North American network. Looking further abroad, Orange is enhancing its fiber backbone across Europe and Africa to further support its growing workloads from major tech giants, while in the Asia-Pacific region, Telstra is expanding its terrestrial fiber network in Australia while strengthening its international fiber routes between key global routes, including intra-Asia, trans-Pacific, and Asia to Australia.
As the demand for faster and more reliable connectivity intensifies, carriers are accelerating their efforts to upgrade and future-proof their networks. With the rise of AI being a key driver behind this shift, it is placing unprecedented demand on carriers’ network infrastructure due to the massive data volumes, low latency requirements and processing needs of AI workloads. AI will continue to reshape network performance expectations. To stay competitive, more telcos will look to invest in high-capacity, intelligent networks to support the next wave of digital transformation.