RailTel, a 'Navratna' public sector undertaking, expects to commence operations at its Noida data center facility in the next 18 months and will gradually scale the capacity as per bandwidth demand. Construction on the data center in Noida is already underway, and the facility will initially have a 5 megawatt (MW) capacity, expanding to 10MW and potentially more, according to Sanjai Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of RailTel.

Partnership and Project Structure

In June, RailTel awarded a managed service data center partner contract to Techno Electronic & Engineering Company (TEECL) through an open-tender process to design, build, and operate a 10MW data center in Noida. TEECL's digital arm, Techno Digital, will execute the project in two phases of 5MW each, with a timeline of 1.5 to 3 years. The tenure will extend to 30 years and includes a revenue-sharing provision.

Existing Infrastructure and Expansion Plans

The PSU already operates two data centers: one in the National Capital Region (Gurugram) and another in Secunderabad. Kumar stated that RailTel is now focused on expanding its data center network in other cities, with facilities planned for Mumbai and Indore. These will be smaller data centers with a minimum of 20 racks. RailTel had initially announced in early 2022 that it was seeking a partner to help build and operate more than 100 edge data centers at railway stations nationwide.

In August of last year, the company stated it was working with TEECL to launch these smaller data centers in a phased manner.

Business Diversification and Network Infrastructure

The public sector company diversified into the data center industry in 2015-16 when Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Jio Infocomm had disrupted the domestic telecom market by offering highly affordable mobile data and voice packs, forcing existing players to chase other avenues for business growth. RailTel, operating under the Ministry of Railways, is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in India.

The company maintains an optical fibre network of 63,000 km route-km (RKM) along railway tracks, a 21,000 km city-wide access network, more than 11,000 points of presence (PoPs), and 1,100 mobile towers nationwide. Its integrated public Wi-Fi network offers wireless internet services at 6,112 railway stations across the country.

Customer Base and Services

RailTel counts private telecom operators among its customers, with Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and others utilizing its services. Kumar noted that even big technology companies, including Amazon and Google, have their data traveling on RailTel's backbone network. The company also serves government organizations, including defence, coal subsidiaries, and the education sector.

RailTel is part of the National Knowledge Network, where it has connected more than 750 institutions. Regarding public Wi-Fi services, Kumar observed that usage has decreased amid the availability of affordable mobile tariffs. He stated that public Wi-Fi “is not a business case at all in other parts of the world. But we are providing, and now it is being perceived as an amenity to the travelers.”

Financial Performance and Strategic Investments

RailTel reported a profit after tax (PAT) of INR 66 crore in Q1FY26, rising by approximately 34.7% year-on-year from INR 49 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year. The company's revenue increased 31% year-over-year to INR 758 crore, and it secured new orders worth INR 2,200 crore in the last six months, maintaining a robust order book of INR 7,197 crore.

Kumar stated that RailTel is investing in data center infrastructures and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled applications to stay competitive in the digital world.

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