Japan's NTT to Invest $500M Annually in India to Expand Digital Infrastructure

Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) has announced plans to invest $500 million annually in India over the next several years, as the telecom group sees India as its most important foreign market in Asia.

The investments will be focused on digital infrastructure, including the construction of nine new data centers, which will roughly double NTT's IT load capacity in the country to 300 megawatts. Additionally, the company plans to build landing stations for undersea communications cables in Mumbai and Chennai in 2023.

This move is a significant bet on the growth of India's digital economy, as the United Nations forecasts India to overtake China as the world's most populous country in 2023. NTT has already invested more than $800 million in India over 2021 and 2022, and these new investments will further solidify the company's presence in the country.

It's worthy of note that as of September 2022, India’s data centre capacity was 870 MW powered by 138 data centres and is expected to cross 1,700 MW by 2025. The industry, right now, is worth $5.6 billion.

NTT, a former state-owned telephone monopoly that owns leading Japanese mobile carrier Docomo, is expanding its international footprint as a shrinking domestic market and lower mobile rates weigh on growth at home.