PARIS -- Orange Business Services today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Tata Communications to expand its network footprint in India. The Network-to-Network Interconnect (NNI) agreement is part of a strategic partnership between the two companies and will increase Orange domestic coverage ten-fold to over 120 cities to meet customer demand.

The NNI will enable Orange to utilize Tata Communications’ 120 points of presence (PoPs), extending Orange Business Services’ reach to tier-two and tier-three cities such as Bhopal, Kanpur and Visakhapatnam. The increased domestic footprint of the Orange network in India is particularly suited to support the expansion plans of global multinational customers looking to connect to the farthest corners of India with robust and reliable network services, featuring global service level agreements (SLA) and straightforward billing.

It also includes access to Orange Business VPN – a fully secured and managed network solution that allows data, voice and video to run on the same IP-based MPLS network – from all locations covered by this network agreement.

Announcing the partnership, Christopher Ozer, Head of Global Communications Solutions – Asia Pacific, Orange Business Services, said, “Enterprises are looking for global expansion opportunities and need a reliable network that allows them to meet end-user demands for digital transformation and innovative services, such as cloud computing, unified communications and M2M. This partnership will enable us to offer customers wider and more competitive end-to-end, fully managed network services as they expand within India. With the partnership, we are well equipped to address the requirements of our global and domestic customers.”

Orange (NYSE: FTE)