Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), was incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1956 to take over the activities of erstwhile Overseas Communications Service (OCS). As a successor to former organisation providing external communications services, VSNL has completed 125 years of operation and its ninth as VSNL.
The first war of Indian Independence in 1857 forced the British to look for a safe direct link of communication to India and the answer was Submarine Telegraphy. The first submarine cable link was laid between Alexandria and Malta in 1860 and continued to expand.
Sir John Pender, the Chairman of the British India Submarine Telegraph Company, established in 1869, was the moving force behind this scheme. On June 23, 1870, he received the first cable from India and the Overseas Communication Service was open to public from the next day. This company was later taken over by the East India Telegraph Company (ETC) in 1872. Soon thereafter when wireless communication was invented the Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT) was registered in India in 1923. So ETC and IRT merged to form the ‘Indian Radio and Cable Communications Company’ (IRCC). On January 1, 1947, its functions were taken over by the ‘Overseas Communications Service’, a Government department which continued till April 1986 when it was converted into a wholly Government owned Company, namely the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited. Today it operates four main gateway centers at Bombay, Calcutta, New Delhi and Madras which have computerised telephone, telex and telegraph switching exchanges. The international telecommunications circuits are derived from communications satellites of the INTELSAT and INMARSAT and wide band submarine telephone cables across the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. INTELSAT and INMARSAT are inter-Governmental consortia where VSNL is the 10th largest and 8th largest operator in the world respectively.
VSNL operates satellite earth stations at Arvi near Pune, Dehradun, Bombay, New Delhi, Calcutta, Madras and Bangalore. Maritime mobile communications through INMARSAT Global network are routed via VSNL Land Earth Station also established at Arvi near Pune. VSNL operates three submarine telephone cables.
VSNL services include telephone, telex, telegraph, leased services including 64 Kbps service, bureaufax, packet switched data, radiophoto, television, T-Fax, teleconference, video conference, multi-address broadcast, press newscast, meteorological broadcast, mailbox, E-Fax, intelsat business services, Flome Country Direct Services, Electronics Mail Services, International Maritime Mobile Communications. VSNL has launched a new service “Global Network Service” (GNS) in partnership with British Telecom, U.K. the first of its kind in India, in addition to regular Hindi Service “Namaskar Seva” to U.S.A in collaboration with AT & T, an operator assisted Hindi language service has been commenced to U.S.A. in collaboration with M/s MCI.
It is now offering International Direct Dialing (IDD) to 237 destinations worldwide from over 4,466 towns and cities of India.
Amongst the major projects that VSNL has executed in the VIII Five Year Plan are two full-fledged INTELSAT Standard-A Earth Stations at Calcutta and Madras, under Sea Fibre Optic Digital Cable System the SEA-ME-WE-2.
Projects under implementation are expansion of simultaneous conversation capability to 30,000 FLAG Under Sea Optical Fibre Cable SEA-ME-WE-3 Under Sea Optical Fibre Cable Project etc. VSNL is also planning the introduction of a host of business services for the benefit of indigenous business and industry in the international market.
The Department of Post marks the completion of 125 years by the issue of this special postage stamp on VSNL. The stamp and first day cover are based on designs by Satish Gujral who has used the traditional spiral form to symbolize universal communication systems.
Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India