China's Huawei barred from major Australian broadband deal

Melbourne, Mar 26, 2012 - In a setback to Chinese telecom giant Huawei, Australia has blocked it from tendering for a prestigious USD 38 billion nation-wide broadband contract due to cyber attacks originating from China.

 Defending the move, Prime Minister Julia Gillard today said the decision to not allow Huawei to take part in tenders for the National Broadband Network (NBN) project was ÒprudentÓ.

 A spokesman for Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said the NBN was the Òbackbone of Australia's information infrastructureÓ and as such the government had a responsibility Òto do our utmost to protect its integrity and that of the information carried on itÓ.

 The USD 38 billion project aims to connect almost every Australian home to a very high speed Internet connection.

 The Australian Financial Review said in a report that Huawei was seeking to secure a supply contract worth up to USD 1.04 billion with NBN, but has been blocked by the Attorney- General's department based on advice from Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

 Gillard told reporters in Seoul, where she is attending nuclear security talks with other world leaders, that the NBN is a crucial national infrastructure project.
 ÒYou would expect, as a government, we would make all of the prudent decisions to make sure that that infrastructure project does what we want it to do, and we've taken one of those decisions,Ó she said, when asked about the Huawei decision.

 One of the reasons for the ban on Huawei could be that the company's founder Ren Zhengfei was in the Chinese People's Liberation Army until 1984.

 Huawei, considered to be the world's No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker, says while the decision is a setback, it will continue to work with all of Australia's major telecommunications operators and remains hopeful of playing a role in the NBN, Australia's AAP news agency reported.

 Huawei corporate affairs director Jeremy Mitchell said despite the prime minister's comments he believed it was a temporary hurdle for the company.

 ÒI think the best way to do this is to work together,Ó Mitchell told ABC Television after Gillard's comments.

 The ban on Huawei underlines global concern about Beijing's cyber warfare efforts after a series of hacking attempts on Western companies were traced to China.

Tata Capital to set up pvt investment banking biz in Singapore

Singapore, March 26, 2012 - Tata Capital today said it will set up a private investment banking business in Singapore in two years.

ÒLicencing process is to be started soon and the business will be in operation in two years,Ó Tata Capital Managing Director and Chief Executive Praveen P Kadle said here.

He said the broad plan would be to establish a strong private equity and fund management as well as wealth management and securities brokerages.

ÒThis will be our first private banking. In two years, this will surely happen,Ó Kadle said after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) to help Indian companies to internationalise their businesses through Singapore.
 Tata Capital Pte Ltd (TPCL) has been operating in Singapore since 2008.

Under the MoU, TPCL and EDB would leverage on each other's strengths to reach out to companies in various countries, specifically India, to explore business opportunities in Singapore, he said.
TCPL would facilitate collaboration and information exchange between Indian companies and EDB, and offer relevant strategic advice and financial solutions.

Kadle said: ÒTata Capital, with its strong corporate customer base and wide range of financial advisory services, is well positioned to help these (Indian) companies with their international ambitions.
ÒHe said Tata Capital and EDB would help Indian companies leverage Singapore's regional and international influence and outreach and in return contribute to Singapore's long-term prosperity.

The Indian companies would be able to tap international expertise, both in financial sector and investments, in regional resources from networking in Singapore's financial hub of 7,000 multi-national corporations, which includes a strong presence of Indonesian and Australia resource-owned groups, said EDB Director Lee Eng Keat.

He said Indian companies formed the largest business community in Singapore with over 5,000 companies operating out of the city state into the regional business and trading environment.
ÒThese companies have done well,Ó said Lee, adding more companies to take advantage of the Tata-EDB MoU offer to set up regional and international operations in the city state.

ÒIn the last four-and-a-half years, Tata Capital has built a relatively strong focus on financial services areas.
Our loan book is close to US$4.2 billion,Ó Kadle said.