Tejas Networks

Tejas Networks

Company type	Public
Traded as	NSE: TEJASNET BSE: 540595
Industry	Telecommunications equipment
Founded	2000
Headquarters	Bangalore, Karnataka , India
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Anand Athreya (CEO & MD) Arnob Roy (Executive Director & COO) Kumar N. Sivarajan (CTO)
Products	xPON-based Fiber Broadband Access, Converged Packet Optical, OTN/DWDM, PTN, Carrier Ethernet Routing & Switching, 4G/LTE based Wireless Broadband
Revenue	₹2,535.58 crore (US$300 million) (2024) [1]
Operating income	₹100.22 crore (US$12 million) (2024) [1]
Net income	₹58.80 crore (US$7.0 million) (2024)[1]
Total assets	₹8,202.53 crore (US$980 million) (2024) [1]
Total equity	₹3,149.49 crore (US$380 million) (2024)[1]
Number of employees	1417
Parent	Tata Sons
Website	www.tejasnetworks.com

Tejas Networks is an optical, broadband and data networking products company based in India. The company designs develops and sells its products to telecom service providers, internet service providers, utilities, security and government entities in 75 countries. The company has built many IPs in multiple areas of telecom networking and has emerged as an exporter to other developing countries including Southeast Asia and Africa.^[2][3]

History

Founded in 2000 by Sanjay Nayak with initial funding from Gururaj Deshpande.^[4] They were later joined by Kumar Sivarajan (an academic at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and author of a book on optical fiber) along with Arnob Roy (an ex-colleague of Nayak).^[5] Tejas Network made a beginning with the development of Intelligent Network technologies. These networks transferred data between two points at the precise speed as per the requirements of the customer. The network also rerouted and cleaned the traffic in case of disruptions^[4] During 2002–2003, the company acquired ten customers.^[5]

Tejas Networks went public on BSE and NSE in June 2017 with a valuation of Rs 2301 crore (23,010,000,000).The organization is considered to be the first listed player in the optical networking equipment space in India by Centrum Broking analysts Alpesh Thacker and Siddhartha Khemka. The anchor investors that bet on Tejas Networks ahead of its IPO were namely Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, East Bridge Capital and PremjiInvest, the family investment arm of Wipro Ltd.^[6] In 2020, Tejas Network developed the world's largest disaggregated packet-optical switch that was called TJ1600S/I.^[7]

ICRA reported a downward shift in their rating because the revenue and profitability of the company experienced a decline in the financial year 2020. The decrease in revenue was accounted to reduced revenue from government and the international market.^[2]

On 29 July 2021, Tata Sons, through its subsidiary Panatone Finvest Limited, initiated an investment in Tejas Networks to buy a 43.35% stake for Rs 1884 crore through shares and warrants.^[8] According to The Economic Times, Tejas Networks is looking to use Tata group’s backing to expand its telecom products portfolio.^[9] In March 2022, Tejas Networks acquired 64% of Saankhya Labs, an Indian wireless communication and semiconductor company.^[10] In April 2022, Tata Sons, through Panatone Finvest Limited, increased its shareholding of Tejas Networks to 52.45%, and thus, acquired the majority of Tejas' shares.^[11]

Business

Tejas also has products created on 10G-PON technology, and its equipment are upgradable to 5G. They help private telecom operators in India by supplying GPON equipment. They are partnering with system integrators to bid for BSNL’s 4G tender and investing in 4G wireless. Tejas also supports BSNL’s optical transmission network.^[12][13]

The company is supplying its products to Bharti Airtel for supporting optical network and implementing 5G backhaul, B2B services and broadband applications.^[14]

Tejas Networks also supplies GPON equipment to private telecom operators in India.^[15][16]

Tejas' GPON solution has been deployed in BharatNet, it is the world's largest greenfield rural broadband rollout delivering high-speed Internet services to more than 200 million people. Tejas Equipments have helped provide broadband internet to all of India's gram panchayats and has helped connect 40,000 villages so far.^[15][16] Tejas’ broadband products are helping 70% requirement of the BharatNet project.^[12][13]

Tejas Networks has filed for 349 patents, of which 127 have been granted.^[17] They compete with other players in market like Ericsson, Nokia-Siemens, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena and Adva.^[4] With the help of PLI Scheme, Tejas is increasing the production to support local demand and reduce $5 billion import bill for the FTTx segment.^[12][13]

Awards and Recognition

Tejas Networks was recognized with the 2023 Voice and Data Excellence award in the "Make in India" category for their state-of-the-art TJ1400 Access and Aggregation Routers.^[18]

Partnerships

In April 2023, Tejas Networks secured a significant contract valued at Rs 696 crore from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to upgrade their pan-India IP-MPLS-based Access and Aggregation Network (MAAN). This project involved supplying over 13,000 of Tejas Networks' next-generation TJ1400 routers.^[19]

In August 2023, Tejas Networks secured a ₹7,492 crore contract to supply its latest 4G/5G Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's (BSNL) pan-India network, encompassing 100,000 sites. This involved a contract with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for supplying, supporting, and maintaining Tejas' equipment for BSNL's nationwide 4G/5G network.^[20]

In October 2023, Tejas Networks started its collaboration with FibreConnect, an Italian wholesale telecom infrastructure developer. Tejas Networks is the sole supplier for FibreConnect's FTTP (fiber-to-the-premise) rollout, providing a range of products including DWDM/PTN/OTN for Core, xPON and Ethernet for Access. This collaboration for Italian government's 'Transition 4.0' plan to digitize the manufacturing sector by providing broadband infrastructure to underserved industrial areas.^[21]

In March 2024, Tejas Networks signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Telecom Egypt (TE), the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), and the National Telecom Institute (NTI) of Egypt. They started large-scale broadband projects in India, specifically the Bharatnet (rural broadband) and NKN (National Knowledge Network) initiatives, to develop similar infrastructure in Egypt and set up technical support services within Egypt to cater to both domestic and regional (Africa and the Middle East) customers. This partnership is to contribute to Egypt's "Digital Egypt" vision by expanding internet access, fostering technological expertise, and creating job opportunities in the telecom sector.^[22]

References

1. "Tejas Networks Overview" (PDF). Tejas Networks.
2. "Tejas Networks Limited: Ratings downgraded to [ICRA]A-(Stable)/ [ICRA]A2+". ICRA.
3. "Tejas Networks India Pte. - A Venture in India - Case - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School". www.hbs.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
4. "Tejas Networks: Building global network". The Times of India. April 6, 2011. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
5. Bartzokas, Anthony; Mani, Sunil (2004-01-01). Financial Systems, Corporate Investment in Innovation, and Venture Capital. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84542-064-2.
6. "Tejas Networks IPO covered 40% on day 2". VCCircle. 2017-06-15. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
7. Delhi Current Affairs General Knowledge Yearbook 2020. New Era Publication.
8. "Tejas Networks announces a strategic investment from Panatone Finvest Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Sons Private Limited, for a controlling stake in the company – Company Announcement - FT.com". markets.ft.com. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
9. "Tejas to expand telecom gear portfolio, take on global biggies after Tata sale - ET Telecom". ETTelecom.com. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
10. "Tejas Networks up 5% as co to acquire 64% stake in Saankhya Labs". Business Standard India. 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2022-04-25.
11. "Panatone Finvest increases stake in Tejas Networks to 52.45%; Stock zooms 3%". www.indiainfoline.com. 8 April 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-25.
12. "Homebred gear vendor Tejas bets big on wired broadband expansion; to bid for BSNL 4G via SI - ET Telecom". ETTelecom.com. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
13. "Airtel selects Tejas Networks for optical network expansion". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
14. "This telecom equipment maker is up six fold in one year while waiting for production linked incentives". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-10-14.
15. "Tejas Networks Launches World's First Ultra-Converged Broadband Product at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 2019-02-25. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
16. Khan, Danish. "Homebred gear vendor Tejas eyes home broadband; to bid for BSNL 4G via system integrator". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
17. "Tejas Networks registers ₹33.6 crore net profit in Q4". @businessline. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
18. "Tejas Networks wins Voice and Data Excellence award for its Carrier Router Portfolio".
19. "Tejas Networks wins largest order in history worth Rs 696 crore from BSNL - Shares rise".
20. "Tejas bags ₹7,492 crore BSNL contract".
21. "FibreConnect partners with Tejas Networks to successfully deploy an end-to-end optical network in Italy".
22. "Tejas Networks signs MoU with Telecom Egypt".

^[1]

1. "Tejas Networks bags ₹7,492 crore BSNL contract". The Economic Times.