Title: Tata Communications Plans Up to $450 Mn Investment in India’s AI Connectivity Network

Tata Communications plans to invest between $400 million and $450 million (approximately ₹4,350 crore) to build a 10,000-kilometre fibre-optic network connecting India’s major artificial intelligence (AI) hubs and data centres. The proposed network aims to meet the growing need for faster, more reliable connectivity as AI adoption and cloud computing continue to expand.

The project, which will be funded through operating cash flows, is designed to support the movement of large volumes of data between computing facilities. The company plans to add around 6 petabits per second (Pb/s) of network capacity, taking its total capacity to approximately 7.25 Pb/s after the expansion.

The investment comes as technology companies, cloud providers and enterprises increase spending on AI infrastructure. As data centres handle increasingly complex workloads, high-speed connectivity has become essential for transferring information efficiently between locations.

## Mumbai–Chennai Corridor to Lead the Rollout

Tata Communications will implement the project in phases, beginning with the Mumbai–Pune–Hyderabad–Chennai corridor. This stretch connects several of India’s key technology and data centre markets and is expected to form the foundation of the proposed network.

Later phases will extend connectivity to emerging data centre clusters across eastern and western India, including Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Jamnagar and Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).

The network will also connect domestic data centre hubs to international cable landing stations and Tata Communications’ global network. This will help businesses transfer data between Indian facilities and overseas AI hubs while improving connectivity between domestic and international infrastructure.

The expansion is intended to serve hyperscalers, cloud service providers, AI platforms, global capability centres (GCCs), enterprises and digital-first businesses. These organisations increasingly require networks that can handle large workloads while maintaining low latency, reliability and consistent performance.

Rupesh Chokshi, Tata Communications’ chief product and technology officer, said the AI economy requires network infrastructure capable of delivering speed, scale and resilience alongside computing capacity.

## Rising Demand for AI Infrastructure Drives Investment

The proposed network comes at a time when India's AI ecosystem is expanding rapidly. Investments in data centres, graphics processing units (GPUs) and cloud computing are increasing the demand for infrastructure that can move data quickly between computing facilities.

AI training involves processing large datasets to develop models, while inference refers to using trained models to generate outputs or perform tasks. Both activities can require substantial bandwidth, particularly when computing resources are spread across multiple locations.

Without sufficient connectivity, even well-equipped data centres can face limitations in moving information between systems. Tata Communications is looking to address this challenge by building a network specifically designed for the requirements of AI and other data-intensive applications.

The company also sees an opportunity in data centre-to-data centre connectivity, a market that could exceed $1 billion in India over the medium term, according to its estimates.

Its existing infrastructure includes more than 500,000 kilometres of subsea optical fibre and over 200,000 kilometres of terrestrial fibre. The new network will build on this foundation and complement the company's international connectivity capabilities.

## E2E Networks Expands AI Computing Capacity

Tata Communications is not the only Indian infrastructure provider increasing its investment in AI. Cloud and AI infrastructure company E2E Networks has also announced plans to expand its AI computing capacity.

The company intends to add approximately 5.4 megawatts (MW) of capacity using NVIDIA HGX B300 systems and other Blackwell GPUs. The expansion is expected to increase its total AI factory capacity by nearly 59%, taking it to around 14.6 MW.

The additional capacity is intended to support large-scale AI model training, post-training workloads, production inference, agentic AI and multimodal applications.

E2E Networks is seeing demand from AI startups, foundation model developers, enterprises, research institutions and public-sector programmes. The company has also highlighted growing interest in AI infrastructure hosted within India, particularly among organisations with regulatory requirements or sensitive data.

Its financial performance reflects this demand. Operating revenue rose 411% year-on-year to ₹223.8 crore in Q2 FY27, compared with ₹43.8 crore in the same quarter last year. The company also reported a consolidated net profit of ₹72.7 crore, reversing a loss of ₹13.5 crore a year earlier.

During the quarter, E2E Networks signed a multi-year cloud GPU contract valued at approximately ₹1,000 crore.

## Connectivity Becomes Critical to India's AI Ambitions

The investments by Tata Communications and E2E Networks highlight two complementary requirements for expanding AI infrastructure: computing power and the networks needed to connect it.

While GPUs and data centres provide the capacity to train and run AI models, high-speed fibre networks allow data to move efficiently between locations. As AI applications become more complex and businesses deploy them at scale, both components are likely to play an increasingly important role.

For Tata Communications, the proposed 10,000-kilometre network represents an opportunity to strengthen its position in enterprise connectivity while serving the needs of India's growing AI and cloud ecosystem.

The success of the project will depend on how effectively the company deploys the infrastructure, meets customer requirements and converts rising demand into long-term business opportunities. As the rollout progresses, its ability to deliver reliable, low-latency connectivity will be central to supporting the next phase of India's digital infrastructure growth.