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Bharti to offer $500 mn cable network outsourcing deal
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Bharti to offer $500 mn cable network outsourcing deal
India’s largest telco Bharti Airtel will outsource the management and maintenance of its 80,000 km-plus inter-city optic fibre cable network in a deal that is estimated to worth about $500 million over a five-year period, two executives familiar with the development said.
Bharti has sounded out several telecom equipment majors about the contract that will be issued soon, said an executive privy to the development. The deal is in line with the company’s policy of outsourcing non-core activities to save costs and become a telecom marketing company.
Inter-city optic fibre cables, or transmission network in telecom industry parlance, carry voice (STD) and data (internet) traffic across the country. In revenue terms, Bharti is the largest carrier of voice and data traffic across the country and many of the smaller telcos use Airtel’s inter-city network for carrying their STD calls.
Bharti has made outsourcing the cornerstone of its business strategy, and has signed multi-billion dollar contracts with network vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, which build, operate and manage its mobile network.
It pioneered the network outsourcing model in 2004 by awarding contracts to Ericsson and Siemens — which later merged with Nokia Networks — and this business model has now been replicated by over 100 operators globally.
Bharti was also the first to outsource its IT requirements when it awarded a 10-year $750 million contract to IBM, which is now worth $2.5 billion. Vodafone, too, has outsourced its IT systems to IBM.
Another billion-dollar pact exists with six BPOs, which collectively handle Bharti’s customer services for a 10-year period. The Alcatel-Lucent-Bharti JV is the front runner to manage and maintain the telco’s inter-city networks, said another industry executive aware of the development.
In April 2009, Bharti Airtel entered a joint venture with Franco-American telecom gear maker Alcatel-Lucent to manage its landline and broadband business, expanding its tested strategy of outsourcing technology functions to focus more on marketing and sales.
Bharti is the minority partner in the 26:74 joint venture, and is paying the JV company about $500 million (Rs 2,500 crore) over a five-year period for managing its landline and broadband business in about 100 cities for the next five years.
Source:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4883448.cms
Bharti has sounded out several telecom equipment majors about the contract that will be issued soon, said an executive privy to the development. The deal is in line with the company’s policy of outsourcing non-core activities to save costs and become a telecom marketing company.
Inter-city optic fibre cables, or transmission network in telecom industry parlance, carry voice (STD) and data (internet) traffic across the country. In revenue terms, Bharti is the largest carrier of voice and data traffic across the country and many of the smaller telcos use Airtel’s inter-city network for carrying their STD calls.
Bharti has made outsourcing the cornerstone of its business strategy, and has signed multi-billion dollar contracts with network vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, which build, operate and manage its mobile network.
It pioneered the network outsourcing model in 2004 by awarding contracts to Ericsson and Siemens — which later merged with Nokia Networks — and this business model has now been replicated by over 100 operators globally.
Bharti was also the first to outsource its IT requirements when it awarded a 10-year $750 million contract to IBM, which is now worth $2.5 billion. Vodafone, too, has outsourced its IT systems to IBM.
Another billion-dollar pact exists with six BPOs, which collectively handle Bharti’s customer services for a 10-year period. The Alcatel-Lucent-Bharti JV is the front runner to manage and maintain the telco’s inter-city networks, said another industry executive aware of the development.
In April 2009, Bharti Airtel entered a joint venture with Franco-American telecom gear maker Alcatel-Lucent to manage its landline and broadband business, expanding its tested strategy of outsourcing technology functions to focus more on marketing and sales.
Bharti is the minority partner in the 26:74 joint venture, and is paying the JV company about $500 million (Rs 2,500 crore) over a five-year period for managing its landline and broadband business in about 100 cities for the next five years.
Source:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4883448.cms
