India bids on international carriers; Verizon gets Virtual Network Operator permit

With Verizon extending its offering to Indian customers, the international carrier has recently been permitted a virtual network operator license on Indian grounds. Its services include national, international long distance (NLD/ILD) and internet service providing (ISP).

Robert Le Busque, Managing Director of Verizon’s Australia, New Zealand and India said “We are grateful to the Department of Telecommunications for the license which will allow our customers to speed up their network deployments by allowing us to offer a full end-to-end managed service experience which includes internet connectivity. A robust virtual network is the backbone of any business transformation and the proliferation of virtual networks will further help India achieve its goal of a Digital India by enhancing connectivity across the country.”

For those seeking information about the carrier brand, Verizon and AT&T are some of the strongest names in the world wireless market. They cater to large population all around the globe.

Previous year, Airtel was in talking terms with Verizon to sign a deal with the international company to club together their expertise in order to gain a strong hold in the Indian market.  With Verizon currently investing heavily in the 5G services for its international customers, does it mean that the service will drop in local market sooner than expected?

Various MVNO’s and VNO’s international telecom operators did trials for the service in India in 2016, with the help of local service providers, but somehow it did not gain much momentum.

With Verizon’s permit, Anjali Amar, country manager of the enterprises says, “The VNO license gives us agility and brings in cost control for our customers especially those who want to deploy software-defined networks. We can now partner other ISPs and telecom operators to resell their service. As of now, the service is only focused at enterprise customers.”

What are VNO’s?

Virtual network operators are for service delivery, who support local infrastructure providers for telecom services. In India full-fledged telecom operators are some of the major names such as BSNL, Airtel, MTNL, etc.

With the entry of Verizon, it will be noteworthy to see the impact it creates on the existing market of local carriers.