Submer and BSNL Tower Corporation Sign MoU for AI Data Centers

Submer India Private Limited (Submer) and BSNL Tower Corporation Limited (BTCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 27 October 2026 at the India Mobile Congress. The agreement aims to explore the development of sovereign, AI-ready data center infrastructure across India.

The collaboration will focus on several key areas, including GPU-as-a-Service, which allows users to access graphics processing unit resources remotely; sovereign AI cloud infrastructure; edge and micro-edge data centers; and large-scale data center projects of up to 20 megawatts (MW). The parties will also assess the suitability of BSNL premises and data center facilities for transformation into distributed edge infrastructure. These evaluations will consider technical and commercial feasibility, connectivity, scalability, energy efficiency, and the needs of government, public sector undertakings (PSUs), enterprises, research institutions, and other workloads.

Robert Jerard Ravi, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL, stated, “AI will play an increasingly important role in India’s digital transformation, creating demand for secure, high-performance computing infrastructure that can serve the country at scale.” He noted that the MoU is essential in evaluating how BSNL’s nationwide infrastructure and connectivity can support sovereign AI capabilities.

Sudhakar Rao Papa, Director of Enterprise Business at BSNL, emphasized the need for a practical path for government bodies and enterprises to adopt AI without compromising performance, security, or data sovereignty. He mentioned that the collaboration aims to bring AI computing capacity closer to organizations across India, supporting a wider range of public-sector and enterprise applications.

Jitendra Garg, an officer at BTCL, highlighted the importance of secure, scalable, and locally available computing infrastructure for India’s digital growth. He remarked that the collaboration combines BSNL’s extensive network and strategic facilities with Submer’s expertise in advanced data center systems, forming a robust foundation to evaluate new AI infrastructure opportunities for public sector and enterprise customers.

Anupam Shrivastava, Submer India Head, expressed confidence in India’s potential to become a global leader in AI infrastructure. He stated, “The next step is to build the physical capacity that turns that ambition into deployable compute.” The partnership aims to integrate infrastructure, network reach, and engineering expertise to make sovereign AI capacity available from strategic edge locations to large-scale AI data centers.

Under the MoU, Submer will contribute its expertise in integrated data center architecture, liquid cooling, thermal management, and high-density computing. The evaluation will treat cooling, power, facilities, and IT infrastructure as an integrated system, ensuring the infrastructure meets the density and efficiency requirements of modern AI.

BTCL will facilitate access to relevant BSNL premises and data center facilities for technical and commercial feasibility studies. It will also support connectivity, regulatory alignment, and engagement with government and enterprise stakeholders. A significant focus will be on developing a sovereign AI cloud model that leverages BSNL’s network footprint and indigenous 4G and 5G networks to provide scalable, low-latency GPU-as-a-Service.

The MoU reflects a shared ambition to build infrastructure for India’s AI economy, designed to be sovereign, distributed as needed, and engineered for modern computing density and efficiency.