Tata sees HK and Macau deals as China platform

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the information technology services arm of Indian conglomerate Tata Group, forecasts that two deals in Macau and Hong Kong will help it land more business from telecommunications network operators in China.

The Mumbai-based, global IT services and consulting firm was awarded an US$8 million contract for a billing system for Companhia de Telecomunicac?es de Macau (CTM), the city's incumbent communications network operator, to help it run third-generation cellular communications services by next year.

TCS this month completed for an undisclosed amount the delivery of software and services for Hong Kong's New World Mobility designed to improve the 3G mobile-phone operator's revenue-collection efforts.

'These are our first large 3G-related engagements in Greater China and we want to showcase these projects to operators across the mainland,' said Girija Pande, TCS executive vice-president and head of Asia-Pacific operations.

The mainland government is expected to grant at least three licences for third-generation mobile-phone services, which allow faster downloads of video and data, in the first half of next year, with networks starting operations in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

TCS, India's largest computer-services provider, is noted for its IT outsourcing work in North America and throughout the global financial services industry. Even so, its profile in the mainland telecommunications services sector has lagged those of multinational rivals such as IBM and domestic players AsiaInfo and Digital China, according to Twiggy Lo, principal analyst at researcher Gartner in Hong Kong.

Gartner forecasts that total IT services revenue from China's telecommunications sector will reach about US$1.3 billion this year, up from US$1.1 billion last year.