Tata Communications (VSNL) drops

Tata Communications dropped 2.51% to Rs 480 at 14:35 IST on BSE even as the company said it has selected Telsima Corporation, a global player in WiMAX systems to provide WiMAX solutions for broadband wireless network in India.

The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 4 March 2008.

On BSE 21,045 shares were traded in Tata Communications counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 1.63 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 500 and a low of Rs 467.25 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 783 on 1 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 342.20 on 5 March 2007.

The mid-cap scrip had outperformed the market over the past one month till 3 March 2008, declining 6.53% compared to the Sensex’s fall of 8.58%. It had underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 22.87% compared to Sensex’s decline of 14.60%.

The company’s current equity is Rs 285 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 480 discounts Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 1.34 by a PE multiple of 328.21.

Tata Communications is planning to invest $500 million in WiMAX services by 2010, and is in talks with investors to sell minority stake in its retail business.

The company is the first to launch broadband services on the WiMAX platform on a large scale for retail consumers in India. In the initial phase, the WiMAX network will offer broadband Internet access and content services to enterprises and residential customers in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Cochin, Chandigarh, and Kolkata.

Tata Communications’ net profit declined 93.3% to Rs 9.52 crore on 2.3% fall in net sales to Rs 1040.74 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

Tata Communications provides global communication solutions. The group operates in three segments: wholesale voice, enterprise and carrier data and others.