The government of India and Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued Letters of Intent (LoI) to UK based telecom giant BT, awarding it with licenses for National Long Distance and International Long Distance services. These licenses will enable BT’s joint venture company, BT Telecom India, to provide communication services directly to multisite corporate customers in the Indian market.

This makes BT the second company after AT&T to receive the NLD and ILD licenses to commence direct operations in the country. Once fully operational, these licenses will allow BT to offer domestic and international managed services to corporate customers who have locations in India.

Andy Green, CEO, BT Global Services, said, "This is an extremely positive step forward. These licenses will enable us to roll out our full product range in India, and for the first time, to provide service directly to our customers, increasing responsiveness and service levels still further."

BT also intends to provide enterprise customers with virtual private network-based (VPN) services using technologies such as ATM and internet protocol-based multi-protocol label switching (MPLS).

Currently, BT provides managed services through its licensed partner in India.

In November 2006, BT had lodged applications for the NLD and ILD licenses with the DoT through BT Telecom India which it established with New Delhi based oil and gas service provider Jubilant Enpro.