IBM wins five-year outsourcing contract from Airtel

IBM has won a five-year outsourcing contract from Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom service provider by subscribers, extending an existing 10-year relationship between the two companies. However, the financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The agreement is based on Airtel's new IT requirement that defines the next generation of services for its ever-growing customer base and to offer best in class services to its customers through solutions leveraging cutting edge technology, Airtel said in a statement.

As part of the new vision, Airtel is also building in-house capabilities and a strong partner eco-system, it added.

The new model offers Bharti Airtel greater flexibility to scale services and adapt in real-time to changing market dynamics and offer a differentiated customer experience leveraging IBM's industry solutions and global experience.

''As we embark on the next phase of Airtel's growth journey, I am confident that the agreement with IBM will help us offer innovative and cutting edge products and services to our customers, enabling us achieve our vision of being the most loved brand,'' said Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer at Bharti Airtel (India & South Asia).

''In the last decade, Bharti's customer base has increased from a few million to over 285 million. Airtel partnered with IBM to drive this growth, by using technology to respond with intuitive offers for customers, managing service delivery, and improving organisational efficiency. This pioneering partnership will continue to bring innovation to Airtel's customers, which is the foundation for long term strategy,'' said Vanitha Narayanan, Managing Director, IBM India.

Harmeen Mehta, chief information officer, Airtel, said, ''Our next generation sourcing model is all about creating a smarter IT – from the data centre to the end-user's experience with a view to ultimately offer new and innovative solutions to our customers. IBM's global expertise to manage large infrastructure operations and application management, coupled with the new IT capabilities we are developing in-house is the latest milestone in our strategy to build a world-class IT services platform as we enter into a new phase in our growth journey in both data and voice.''

Airtel and IBM also have partnerships for IT infrastructure and services across Airtel's international operations spanning 19 countries including Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.