Tata Communications and Telefónica Forge Telepresence Agreement

Event Summary

June 21, 2010 -- Tata Communications and Telefónica have signed an interconnection agreement that will let customers conduct inter-carrier telepresence sessions across each other’s video exchanges. The two carriers are in customer trials, and they intend to launch commercial services across their exchanges in September 2010.

Quick Take

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Moderate on Tata Communications and Telefónica announcing an interconnection agreement, because they are two smaller telepresence players, and as with Tata's agreement with BT, customer trials are ongoing and commercial service is scheduled for September 2010. The carriers connect at Tata's video exchange in London, and they can host conferences across Tata's three regional exchanges and Telefónica's exchange in Madrid. Both carriers will gain some marketing momentum from this early announcement of cooperation, while their competitors elect to wait on partnership announcements until they have more completely vetted video exchange interoperability.

• Vendor Importance: Moderate to Tata Communications, because the telepresence interconnection agreement complements its previously announced deal with BT Conferencing, and it will allow Tata to expand its potential pool of reachable subscribers (see “Tata Adds Telepresence Deals Including BT Video Exchange Tie-up Report,” June 18, 2010). Besides reaching across each other’s customer base once the service is ready, Telefónica also will be able to tap Tata Communications' public telepresence rooms to extend its addressable base.

• Market Impact: Low on the managed telepresence market, particularly other managed telepresence providers, because Tata Communications and Telefónica are both smaller Cisco TelePresence System (TPS) competitors relative to BT, AT&T, and Orange Business Services. Both carriers benefit by moving early with a marketing message of telepresence inter-carrier standardization and interoperability, even though all the major global Cisco TPS providers have been actively participating in the Cisco-led telepresence interconnection efforts.

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