Our History
Our dedication to innovate and engineer intelligence has remained persistent over the years.
Commtel: A Journey of 25 years, and counting…
For 25 years, Commtel has been a strong force supporting organizations and helping them innovate, achieve lasting gains and be future-ready. Guided by our deep-rooted set of values and driven by our passion towards our work, we continue to deliver excellence. Here’s some details about this beautiful journey highlighting the defining moments that have helped us shape the Commtel of today.
April 2021 – March 2024
Goal 2024 – A period of renewal, recovery and being future-ready
- Human Capital: Our talent is the cornerstone of our success. We continue to invest in building a bigger, innovative, and strong team that can help us with, as we say, Engineering Intelligence and building a smarter, faster and safer world for everyone. We are now an energetic team of around 350 Commtelians and counting!
- Infrastructure Push: As we continue to expand and grow our business, we make sure that we have a cutting-edge and futuristic infrastructure across our office locations. A good infrastructure plays a crucial role in the holistic development of our employees as well as the business. As on date, we are equipped with 80,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art infrastructure across our offices in India, UAE and USA.
- Dedicated Networks Deployed: As we continue to scale up and grow consistently, we have deployed 115,000 Kms (as on date) of dedicated critical networks for key CNI sectors like Oil & Gas, Power, Transportation, etc.
- Revenue Growth: After a period of unprecedent challenges due to pandemic, the business has slowly started catching up. We continue to deliver excellence to our clients and have introduced some new solutions that are helping us achieve our revenue goals, steadily.
- We continue being recognised as a 'Great Place To Work' for 7 years in a row. Additionally, it was truly an honour to receive the ‘HR Leader Award’ by Great Place To Work in August 2021.
- Being pioneers in introducing the PIDS technology in India, we are now at the forefront and have managed to gain 60% market share in this area.
- We strengthened our AI offerings, partnered with nybl. and launched ‘CN-Shield’, the most advanced artificial intelligence-based physical security management system in the world.
- Introduced a renewed identity of Commtel along with a new logo and a tagline ‘Engineering Intelligence’ that truly portrays our work ethos.
- 2023 marks the 25th year of our business, a truly proud moment for us to reach this significant milestone year and continue delivering our best.
April 2018 – March 2021
Goal 2021 – Sustenance, Resilience, and Unwavering Strength
- Human Capital: Our strong and resilient talent is truly the pride of Commtel. They are at the forefront of innovation, overcoming challenges together and building a better future for everyone. We are now a strong workforce of 270+ Commtelians.
- Infrastructure Push: A solid, state-of-the-art infrastructure is essential to keep up with the customer needs, ensure uninterrupted service delivery and provide positive customer experience. Expansion is a constant effort for us, and we currently have a 75,000 sq. ft. infrastructural spread across our India, UAE and USA offices.
- Dedicated Networks Deployed: This time was a challenging one for everyone, including us. We continued with our efforts to deliver excellence despite any challenges and add value to our clients’ businesses. By the end of FY 2021, we have deployed 100,000 Kms of dedicated network for critical national infrastructure sectors like Oil & Gas, Power, Transportation, etc.
- Revenue Growth: This three-year period was truly a testing time for everyone and, it was no exception for us. We continued with our unwavering efforts and commitment towards our clients, partners, employees and all the stakeholders. We witnessed some fluctuations in revenue volumes during this time but, we managed to achieve an average growth rate of 8.5%. The period in review accounts for 38% of the total revenue achieved so far.
- We have been consecutively receiving the coveted ‘Great Place To Work’ certification for 6 years. We are very grateful for this recognition and, we believe, it is truly a reflection of the dedicated teams we have across the organization.
- 2018 was a milestone year for us as we completed 20 years of business as a global, integrated digital solutions provider.
- With the advent of digital technology and rising focus on digital transformation initiatives across industries, we set up our Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions vertical to help our clients optimize and revolutionize their operations.
- Being one of the first companies to introduce and implement optical fiber-based Pipeline Intrusion Detection System (PIDS) using distributed acoustic sensing technology in India in 2012, we continue to implement PIDS across multiple pipeline projects.
- Secured and successfully executed major turnkey projects including a deployment of Pipeline Intrusion Detection System (PIDS) for HPCL MDPL (Mundra Delhi Pipeline) and ASPL (Awa Salavas Pipeline).
April 2015 - March 2018
Goal 2018 – A Period Of Distinct Milestones
- Human Capital: Staying strong in our journey towards achieving the many long term and short term goals, we became a formidable workforce of around 220+ Commtelian’s at the end of FY 2017-18.
- Infrastructure Push: Purpose built premises are absolutely essential to support the execution of small to large and very large projects. We have been constantly expanding to meet our customers’ demands, which saw us equipping the UAE office with an additional area of 20,000 sq. ft. of state of the art facility. From modest beginnings, today we possess 65,000 sq. ft. of collective infrastructural spread across India, UAE and regional offices.
- Dedicated Networks Deployed: Growing our business at a reasonable rate, year on year for the past 20 years, we have deployed more than 75,000 Kms of dedicated mission critical networks across key sectors like Oil & Gas, Power, Transportation and allied sectors.
- Revenue Growth: In the past 20 years, we have established ourselves as a dominant player in the dedicated networks space. The proof of which is the highest cumulative growth in revenue we achieved in the last 3 financial years. By far this period was the best for us where we attained average revenue growth of 35%. This period constitutes 45% of the total revenue achieved by us so far.
- On 1st December 2017, we achieved the milestone of stepping into the 20th year of our presence as a global, integrated digital technology solutions provider.
- Got recognized as one of India’s 50 Great Mid-size Workplaces by the Great Place to Work Institute. While we have been a ‘Great Place to Work Certified’ for the past three years but to be recognized on a pan-India level as a great mid-size company was indeed a major milestone. This award is not just a testimony of our inherent core values and belief system but also underlines the fact that we give utmost importance to our ‘Human Capital’.
- Acquired major turnkey projects, some of which were successfully executed and others are to be delivered on a global scale from customers like Fluor Corporation, Petrofac, GAIL, HPCL, ZTT India, Black & Veatch PGCIL, Dodsal, EGA, GSPL, Technip, Oman LNG, ITNL, Quality International, Adayard, Cairn Energy and many more.
- We continued and further strengthened our long standing relationships with Cisco, Coriant, Eaton, Eltel, Federal Signals, Honeywell International, Industronics, Fotech, Schneider Electric, Vertiv Energy and other valuable partners during this period, which is a testimony to the fact that they value our expertise in the dedicated networks space.
- We received ‘2018 Best Overall Performance Recognition Award’ from one of our long-time partner’s Siemens, for our valuable contribution and long term business association.
- The time-period leading to fulfilment of our ‘Goal 2018’ was indeed replete with milestones, paving our way to a future that is assuring, growth driven and looking beyond the possibilities of today.
April 2012 - March 2015
Goal 2015 - Strong Statement Through Performance
- Human Capital: Starting our journey with just 14 employees we became a strong contingent of over 200 at the end of FY 2014-15.
- Infrastructure Push: Expanded the UAE office with an additional area of 5000 sq. ft., seamlessly converged into one single state of the art facilities with total operating area of 12,000 sq. ft. We started our operations from a 700 sq. ft. rented premise, which today spans 45,000 sq. ft. of cumulative infrastructural spread across India, UAE and USA.
- Dedicated Networks Deployed: In a span of over 17 years, starting from a few thousand kilometers, we have established nearly 44000 Kms of dedicated telecom networks across the Oil & Gas, Power, Transportation and allied sectors.
- Revenue Growth: We have doubled our revenue every three years since the unveiling of our first business plan in the FY 2003.
- On 1st December 2014, we stepped into 17th year of our evolution, traversing a long, eventful journey.
- Launched a revamped ‘TechCare 2.0’ Customer Interface Portal and mobile application exclusively for our customers, based on latest Android and Apple iOS platforms.
- We partnered with Fotech Solutions of UK for its products in India. Successfully implemented PIDS technology for three esteemed customers using its revolutionary Helios Distributed Acoustic Sensor (DAS) monitoring system.
- Acquired major turnkey projects to be executed on a global scale from customers like Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations, Archirodon Construction Overseas Co. SA., Kuwait Oil Company, Petrofac International Ltd., Qatar Petroleum, Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation, Takreer, Technip etc.
- Unveiled and felicitated two Commtelians jointly with our second ‘Spirit of Innovation Award’, an award that recognizes exceptional efforts of an inspiring individual who has made significant impact towards Innovation and upheld the company values and practices in the highest manner.
- We received ‘2014 Partner Recognition Award’ from one of our longtime partner’s Coriant, for outstanding performance in the year 2014.
- Awarded ‘Certificate of Excellence’ for the second consecutive year by Inc India magazine for our exemplary growth story and being amongst the Top 500 fastest growing SME’s.
- Featured in ‘Leading SME’s of India 2014’ released by Dun & Bradstreet.
- We realized our objectives mandated to ‘Goal 2015’ and achieved the set revenue target.
April 2009 - March 2012
Goal 2012 - Sustainable Growth
- Human Capital: This phase marked the inclusion of various major projects stretched across geographies. The impetus was to deliver them without compromising on quality or timelines. Hence the workforce saw considerable strengthening through 157 dedicated Commtelians.
- Infrastructure Push: In the year 2011, we established a sprawling 24,000 sq. ft., state of the art facility at Juinagar in Navi Mumbai which could house ~200 Commtelians under one roof. Fully equipped with a high tech Solutions Test Centre, Demo Centre, Training Centre, 24x7 NOC, Stores and other critical business functions enabling superior customer engagement.
- Dedicated Networks Deployed: Sustaining the growth momentum we set up a total of 19200 Kms of telecom network till this point of time.
- Revenue Growth: During this period leading to Goal 2012 we attained average revenue growth of 20%. This was a highly productive period in Commtel’s growth story as 54% of Commtel’s total revenue was achieved during this phase, proving our business model to be truly sustainable and growth oriented.
- Achieved successful re-certification of ISO 9001:2008 Certificate by Bureau Veritas.
- We bagged order for deployment of telecommunication and surveillance systems for the biggest hydroelectric project undertaken in India from NHPC for its Subansiri Hydroelectric Project.
- Achieved a milestone, when we bagged a potentially big offshore project from an international EPC named SIME DARBY, to equip ONGC’s strategic offshore platform with state of the art converged telecommunication systems.
- Secured and successfully executed major projects for customers like HPCL, HMEL, GAIL, IOCL and PGCIL.
- We became the official sales partner of Cisco and Motorola for their products in India.
- Launched ‘TechCare’, a part of Care and Sustenance Group, which aims at providing our customers exclusive post-sales services beyond general maintenance and fault finding.
- Won and successfully executed a high profile project from Petrofac International in the Central Asian region for Turkmengas, in record time.
- We were nominated and awarded a ‘Certificate of Excellence’ by Inc India magazine for our exemplary growth story and was amongst the Top 500 fastest growing SME’s.
April 2006 - March 2009
Goal 2009 - Reaching The Next Level
- Human Capital: Our employee strength reached to 100.
- Infrastructure Push: Our growth ambitions got a further short in the arm in April 2007 with the inclusion of a state of the art 6500 sq. ft. new office set-up at Navi Mumbai. In addition to a significantly large office, it had a Systems Integration Centre, Stores, 24x7 Help Desk, Test Bed and Training facilities.
- In June 2007, we also set-up a 5000 sq. ft. subsidiary company in Sharjah Airport International Free Zone, United Arab Emirates by the name of Commtel Networks (FZC), heralding our international presence.
- Dedicated Networks Deployed: We built nearly 14000 Kms of dedicated telecom networks by the end of our Goal 2009.
- Revenue Growth: We achieved average revenue growth of 40% marking the completion of our 2nd business plan. This period contributed 29% to Commtel’s total revenue till date.
- Major projects were won directly from GSPL, WRI, APTRANSCO, TCIL, Western Railway and ABB AS Norway.
- We made our presence felt even in powerhouse sectors like Railways and Power apart from retaining leadership position in Oil & Gas sector.
- ‘Launch of New Commtel’ event marked our decade old existence, accompanied by unveiling of the new Commtel logo with the tag line “Let’s Reach the Next Level”.
- We won the prestigious turnkey project from Cairn Energy for deployment of an integrated solution for the Barmer-Bhogat crude pipeline (world’s longest heated pipeline).
- Entered into the US Market through the formation of United Commtel.
- Through the formation of United Commtel.
April 2003 - March 2006
1st Business Plan - Goal 2006 The Big Push Forward
- Human Capital: Our employee strength rose to 62.
- Infrastructure Push: In addition to the Mumbai office and Systems Integration Centre at Navi Mumbai, we set-up an additional new office facility of 1600 sq. ft. at Navi Mumbai in August, 2004.
- Dedicated Networks Deployed: At the end of our first business plan we enhanced the overall distance of dedicated networks installed across key sectors to about 9000 Kms.
- Revenue Growth: During the first business plan we achieved average revenue growth of 42%. This period constitutes for 12% of the total revenue achieved by us so far.
- Noteworthy increase in number of customers from 18 to 47 marked our enhanced market reach. New additions to our customer list were major industry players like L&T, IOCL, PGCIL, WRI, ECI Telecom etc.
- We continued winning notable projects from GSPL, GAIL and added new sectors to our customers list.
- Received ISO 9001:2000 Certification from BVQI.
- The first business plan executed in this phase constitutes for 12% of our total revenue generation, more than 50% growth over the formative years.
December 1998 - March 2003
The Formative Years
- Commtel came into being on 31st July 1998. Our commercial operations commenced from 1st December 1998.
- Human Capital: We started our professional journey with a team of just 14 people, reaching to 50 by the end of FY 2003.
- Infrastructure Push: We operated out of a modest 700 sq. ft. rented premise during the first few years. In the year February 2002, we moved into our own 2000 sq. ft. spacious office also setting up an 800 sq. ft. fully functional ‘Systems Integration Centre’ in Navi Mumbai.
- Dedicated Networks Deployed: We carried on the legacy of being the dedicated telecommunication solutions provider and during our formative years, we deployed 6800 Kms of dedicated telecom network in the Oil & Gas sector.
- Revenue Growth: During the first five years of our operation we clocked a healthy, average revenue growth of 55%. The formative years constitute for 5% of the total revenue generated by Commtel so far.
- From serving 7 customers at the outset we went on to serve close to 18 customers by the end of FY 2003.
- Apart from securing the first overseas services project in the second year of our operations, we executed our first major Turnkey Project for GAIL’s 1200 Kms long Jamnagar-Loni LPG pipeline while partnering with Nokia Siemens Networks.
- Signed the Value Added Re-Seller contract with Nokia Networks Oy.
- Our engineers successfully performed systems integration and FAT for Jamnagar-Loni Pipeline at Nokia’s Helsinki facility.
- Major projects were won directly from GAIL, GSPL, WWW Projects Pty Ltd.
- Secured financial assistance from Citibank N.A. for business growth.
- We entered the main stream telecom services business by partnering Nortel Networks and Marconi Communications to deploy large networks.
- Our order values started seeing a significant leap with newer customers and consistent repeat business from Oil & Gas majors.
