History

_x000D_ RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. (RCIL) was established in September 2000. RailTel’s objective is to modernise the existing telecom system for train control, operation, and safety. It is also building a broadband and multimedia network across India by laying optical fibre cables (OFC) by leveraging the right of way along railway tracks._x000D_ _x000D_ RailTel provides services such as secure and protected OFC Path, Network Engineered for SDH, Network enabled for IP, Edge & access layer by STM1/4, 24 strand single mode fibre armoured OFC, frame delay, ATM, Giganet Ethernet and seamless connectivity._x000D_ _x000D_ In 2003, the company built the first high-speed, long-distance OFC network connecting three important points in the south, viz. Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, followed by further OFC between Mumbai and Pune, as well as New Delhi and Jaipur. In 2005-06 it established the first STM-16 network in India, enabling a higher bandwidth network in the country. _x000D_ _x000D_ It became a Category-I Miniratna central public sector enterprise in 2012-13. In 2014-15, it established its own subsidiary RailTel Enterprises Ltd and in 2016-17, it started rolling out WiFi at railway stations with Google and by 2017-18 it had reached over 250 stations. The company went public in 2021. It presently covers over 90 important cities and has also commissioned the first cyber cafe on a railway platform in New Delhi._x000D_

Business Segments

_x000D_ RCIL has a strategic relationship with Indian Railways as well as the Indian government for nationwide projects such as the National Knowledge Network and Bharat Net. It offers a diverse set of services, which include -_x000D_

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1. Communication services - RailTel offers high quality and secure multi-point managed video conferencing services that enable users a virtual, face-to-face meeting experience as a part of its e-office service.
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2. IP-based video surveillance systems at the stations in order to enhance the level of security.
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3. Data Centre Services via the data centres that RCIL owns, located at Secunderabad and Gurugram.
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4. Retail Broadband - RCIL offers broadband services at the retail level through its initiative, Rail Wire. This is related to its main objective of expanding the internet network in India.
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_x000D_ RCIL also offers a range of other services, including Leased Line Service, Virtual Private Network Service, Internet Leased Line Service, Rack and Space Collocation Service and Tower Co-location Service, among others._x000D_ _x000D_ The company is also planning to install internet facilities in the trains running through its OFC network. RCIL also has a subsidiary named RailTel Enterprises Ltd._x000D_

Corporate Actions

_x000D_ There have been no bonus shares, rights issue, buybacks or stock split declared by the company._x000D_

Management Outlook

_x000D_ RCIL views the Indian telecom industry to be segregated into wireless, wireline and enterprise services. As of December 2022, total broadband subscriptions stood at 832.2 million, and the total subscriber base stood at 1,170.38 million. It expects that by 2025, India will need around 22 million skilled workers in 5G-related technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and cloud computing. It also expects that 5G will be used in INDIA to enable DIGITAL India, SMART Cities & SMART Village missions for India. _x000D_ _x000D_ RCIL already has a massive reach across India, covering all the important and major_x000D_ _x000D_ cities, including small towns. It considers itself to be the only consistently profitable and dividend-paying company in the telecom space under the Govt of India. Therefore, with the spread and reach, the company is in a position to serve roughly 70% of the country’s population. This gives the company ample opportunity to scale up its services over time to meet the rising demand for telecommunication services in India in the coming years.