RailTel signs MoU with South African firms to promote Indian technology, innovation and products

NEW DELHI: RailTel Corporation of India Ltd, a Mini Ratna PSU under the Ministry of Railways, has taken an initiative to promote Indian technology, innovation and products in South Africa and the adjoining region. It signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding on April 24 with InoviTel (PTY) LTD and Tsiko Africa Energy & Infrastructure for Tsiko Group which will also explore opportunities in areas such as telecom, railways and other IT/ICT businesses in South Africa.

"The scope of this MOU covers activation and commercialisation of dark fibre along the railway lines and high voltage transmission lines in South Africa," a press statement from RailTel said.

"It also covers Railway Signal & Telecommunication solutions, Digital twin Modelling of Railway assets for predictive maintenance and Traffic simulation, OFC based Distributed Acoustic System(DAS) etc. for public and private Rail operators within South Africa," it added.

RailTel is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in India and owns an extensive pan-India optic fibre network of over 61,000 route km covering major metros, cities and rural areas and reaching 70 per cent of India's population.

Tsiko Africa Energy and Infrastructure and InoviTel are South Africa-based entities that are supported by the Tsiko Africa Group and are also part of the South African Indo-Afro Business Association NPC.

The MoU was signed at Pretoria, South Africa, in the presence of Prabhat Kumar, High Commissioner of India to South Africa, and Mahesh Kumar, Consul General of India, Johannesburg.

"Parag Kumar Goyal, Principal Executive Director/Enterprise Business, RailTel exchanged the MOU with Chief Executive Officer InoviTel (PTY) LTD Lavine Singh and Chief Executive Officer Tsiko Africa Energy and Infrastructure (Pty) Ltd. Mr Pragasen Naidoo," the statement said.