Aqua Comms Acquires India-based Openbyte Infrastructure

Aqua Comms announced the successful acquisition of Openbyte Infrastructure Private Limited (Openbyte), an India-based licensed telecom company focused on providing neutral, open access landing solutions for submarine cables. The acquisition of Openbyte is key in supporting Aqua Comms’ global connectivity expansion plans, providing a carrier-neutral platform in India for Aqua Comms services.

Openbyte Infrastructure Private Limited is an Indian private company incorporated on February 18, 2019, based in Delhi and founded by Amit Vyas and Neeraj Katiyar. The main services of the company are open access submarine cable landing solutions.

"Openbyte was founded to provide cost effective, open access solutions to make submarine cable capacity accessible to all interested stakeholders, enhance the digital infrastructure of the country and eliminate bottlenecks." Amit Vyas said.

Due to the regulatory and competitive landscape on the submarine cable sector in India, it is not easy for the company to achieve their goal. To date, it seems not easy for the company to luanch its official website either. 

According to Aqua Comms, key to the acquisition is the appointment of Amit Vyas as CEO, India and Regional Chief Business Development Officer for Aqua Comms. Amit will be supported by Neeraj Katiyar, CTO, India and Chief Global Architect for Subsea Cables, who will be responsible for the technical aspects of regional projects.

In April 2021, Aqua Comms DAC was acquired by Digital 9 Infrastructure plc (D9), an LSE listed investment trust managed by Triple Point Investment Management LLP. From its IPO in March 2021 and subsequent capital raises, DGI9 has raised total equity of £905 million and a revolving credit facility of £375 million, invested into data centres, subsea fibre, terrestrial fibre and wireless networks.

D9 is building the Europe Middle-East India Connect 1 (EMIC-1) subsea cable connecting India to Europe. Aqua Comms will operate and manage the EMIC-1 on behalf of D9 as an integral part of its expanding global subsea network.

The acquisition of Openbyte is key in supporting Aqua Comms’ global connectivity expansion plans, providing a carrier-neutral platform in India for Aqua Comms services.