Tata Communications plans to invest between $400 million and $450 million to build approximately 10,000 kilometres of new AI-ready fibre infrastructure across India. The three-phase programme will connect major data-centre and artificial-intelligence clusters through a high-capacity, low-latency network integrated with the company’s domestic and international backbone.
The first phase will cover the Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad-Chennai corridor, which contains several of India’s largest cloud, data-centre and technology markets. Subsequent phases are expected to extend the network into emerging infrastructure clusters including Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Jamnagar and GIFT City. Connections to international cable-landing stations will provide links between these domestic clusters and global cloud and AI hubs.
The company is designing the network for hyperscalers, AI platforms, neocloud operators, digital businesses, global capability centres and large enterprises. Tata Communications expects customer requirements to include high-capacity data-centre interconnection, low-latency model inference, distributed AI training, cloud connectivity and resilient access to international computing infrastructure.
Managing Director and CEO Ganesh Lakshminarayanan said Tata Communications estimates that India’s data-centre-to-data-centre connectivity market could exceed $1 billion over the medium term. He said a growing portion of the proposed expansion is supported by anchor-customer commitments and contracted demand, providing the company with greater visibility as it deploys capital.
The new infrastructure will be integrated with a network footprint that already includes more than 500,000 kilometres of subsea optical fibre and over 200,000 kilometres of terrestrial fibre. Tata Communications has also been expanding connectivity between India and Southeast Asia. It previously outlined a new Mumbai-Singapore subsea system and joined a consortium developing another cable between Chennai and Singapore, which is expected to enter service in the fourth quarter of 2029.
The programme addresses the networking layer of India’s expanding AI infrastructure market. Large computing clusters require reliable movement of data between facilities, cloud regions, enterprise sites and international networks, placing high-capacity connectivity alongside computing hardware and electricity as a core infrastructure requirement.
