For seven decades, Formula 1 has been one of the world’s most important sporting attractions. And guess what? An Indian company is allowing the race to be broadcast to more than 500 million fans in at least 180 countries. In 2022, Formula 1 and Tata Communications announced a multi-year strategic collaboration, under which the latter becomes the official broadcast communications partner for the races.
In less than 200 milliseconds, video feeds travel from the race venue to a remote production site in London, before making their way to the projector. This is what media companies do, but Tata Communications is not one of them. Its network provides international calling services, but it’s not just a telco either. The company would be better described as operating at the intersection of both, in an area called communications technology, thanks to 500,000 kilometers of submarine cables serving businesses and internet service providers.
All this enables the company to play in the digital space. The high-value solutions you target require expertise in cloud computing, mobility, security, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and more.
Change is constant
Tata Communications’ business model is not easy to understand. One reason, among others, is the sheer pace of transformation, from the audio player at the turn of the century to building a big data and digital play. The company has followed strategies in line with the needs of the hour.
“One of the reasons we are not well understood is because there is no other similar company,” says AS Lakshminarayanan, MD and CEO of the company. Prior to his current role, he had a long stint at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), where he managed markets such as Japan, UK and Europe, as well as being the Global Head of Media and Information Services. “We have interactive fabric, mesh fabric, and cloud fabric. No one else has that, and since each one of them has a different profile, one can’t put it in one spreadsheet.”
The transformation of Tata Communications has been an ongoing process and has not been easy. The Tata group, formerly known as Videsh Sanchar Nigam, had bought it from the government through a divestment process in 2002. Interestingly, difficult situations led to new opportunities and, inevitably, a different way of thinking. When Lakshminarayanan took over in October 2019, financially, it was a difficult period. Investors were also unhappy. There was nothing great to talk about when it came to customers. “If they wanted five things from us, it was often about being able to do 2a or 3b,” he says. “We weren’t aiming to solve a problem, which led to customers being less important.” What exacerbated the problems was that the meetings were held with the head of networks, not the chief information officer (CIO).
The first artificial intelligence journey
When a company is in good financial health, other aspects such as product, market entry and skills can be handled with greater confidence and can make mergers and acquisitions (M&As) more feasible. Between December 2022 and June 2023, the company made two acquisitions. First up was Switch ($59 million), a company that provides live production and video streaming services. It then bought Kaleyra, a distressed asset ($100 million plus debt of about $180 million) player-integrated communications platform as a service (CPaaS). In December 2025, Tata Communications acquired a 51% stake in Commotion Inc, an AI-driven SaaS platform company with operations in the US and India, for Rs 227 crore. The statement then explained the reasons for the purchase and subsequent integration of the capabilities into the company’s digital fabric (a phrase Lakshminarayanan often uses during our conversation) and how it will “accelerate AI adoption and advance the journey to becoming an AI-first organization.”
Tata Communications can be studied as part of the global communications system. CareEdge Ratings’ September 2025 report notes the importance of “owning and operating the world’s only wholly-owned submarine fiber loop” with a significant share of international voice and data traffic. It continues to outline a favorable outlook for the industry, with increasing data consumption, cloud migration, adoption of CPaaS solutions, and increasing demand for network security services driving growth opportunities.
About 84% of the company’s revenue in FY25 came from data. The digital platforms and services subsector has expanded rapidly on the back of acquisitions and enterprise demand. “While the business is data-centric, these risks are mitigated by the breadth of services within DMS (Data Managed Services) and the company’s diversified customer and geographic base (no single customer has more than 10% of revenue; India at 38% and US at 21%). The combination of strong infrastructure, scale and industry tailwinds supports Tata Communications’ market leadership and revenue visibility.”
Playing on the big table
The company has got many interesting assignments, apart from Formula 1. In late 2023, it signed a deal with JLR (a brand owned by Tata Motors) for digital transformation. This was a key part of JLR’s Reimagine strategy. A year later, this partnership was expanded to enhance connected vehicle capabilities in 120 countries.
Sumit Walia, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer, Tata Communications, believes this was important to drive home the point about how it relates to customers. “If you ask Jaguar Land Rover today about the importance of Tata Communications in their own ecosystem, there’s a good chance they’ll talk about us as a key part of their central digital nervous system. That’s the power of importance that we’ve been able to access,” he says.
Understandably, this is not an easy process. According to Walia, GPS technology is only part of the story. “But by putting myself in a position to be able to solve a customer’s problem, I need to understand the problem first. So, it’s the pain-gain equation that we’re really trying to work with,” he says. Much of this progress has not been missed by those who track the company. “Of course, Tata Communications has a complex model. The digital part has multiple legs with AI, data centres, IoT and 5G/6G. The interesting part is that each of them is merging with the business,” says Devin R Choksey, chairman and managing director of wealth and investment management advisory firm DRChoksey Finserv. The challenge, he says, is that existing customers are more demanding, making continuous innovation crucial. “To that extent, expansion will always be difficult. The business overlaps with group companies like TCS, and Tata Elxsi is already there, although the size and scale will vary,” he says.
How much Tata Communications has changed over two decades is a momentous story. Vibhor Singhal. The acquisition of Tyco, the submarine cable system operator (in 2004 for $130 million), was the first big pivot, says Nuvama’s executive director of institutional equity. You have given them a big role in data communication. “The next pivot was before the pandemic and shaped the shift to a digital-first approach, which resulted in Tata Communications becoming a one-stop solution for multiple needs. This included next generation connectivity solutions, cyber security solutions or moving to the cloud and media sector specific solutions,” he explains. Most importantly, in October 2024, the company announced that it would integrate Nvidia’s software into its cloud AI offerings. It will be powered by Nvidia Hopper GPUs.
Tata Communications has also been developing IoT, indicating that it does not want to be a pure IT company, and prefers to position itself as a services player. “This seems rational given that companies are working with multiple vendors on cloud, switches and CPaaS, among others. CTOs are realizing the need for consolidation, which makes it a very attractive opportunity for Tata Communications,” he says. The obstacle is the pace of technological change, which can easily disrupt the business model.
Walia sees Tata Communications as facing a “once-in-a-generation opportunity”. He looks to some other big technological shifts to underscore his point. “It took two decades for internet and one decade for mobile. Cloud took a decade, and now with AI and GenAI, this shift will be seen in the next three to four years,” he says.
All eyes will be on how the company improves its game from now on. Maybe she needs to disrupt herself again, not to survive but just to get better. For Tata Communications, an interesting phase of growth has barely begun to unfold.
@krishnagopalan
