Gail, Tata power tie up for optical network

NEW DELHI: State-run Gas Authority of India Ltd. said on Wednesday that it

had signed an agreement with Tata Power Co to join hands to provide

infrastructure for Internet, mobile and fixed-line telephone operators.

GAIL, a gas marketing firm, is setting up a 10,000-km optical fiber network

in northern, western and southern India, and has nearly completed the first

phase of its network connecting New Delhi with Bombay, a GAIL statement said. It

said Tata Power was planning to set up optical fiber networks in major cities

including New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai.

"The networks being set up by GAIL and Tata Power are complementary and

would enable the two companies to spread their market through mutually

beneficial cooperation in the telecom sector," it said. GAIL has a network

of more than 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines and about 1,250 km of liquefied

petroleum gas pipelines.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.