Bharti outsources IT infrastructure management for African operations to IBM

Telecom major Bharti Airtel and IBM on Friday said that they have finalised their December agreement wherein IBM will deploy and manage the information technology infrastructure and applications to support Airtel's mobile services throughout Africa.

IBM will consolidate and transform the 16 different IT environments across Airtel's African operations into an integrated IT system, and will oversee the management of all applications, data center operations, servers, storage and desktop services, the company said in a statement.

Airtel had acquired 16 Zain operations across Africa in June 2010 (See: Bharti acquires Zain, becomes world's fifth largest mobile operator)

As part of the 10-year agreement, IBM will provide customer support applications that include customer relationship management, billing, and self-service options and assist Airtel in delivering innovative and convenient 2G and 3G mobile services. 

In addition, IBM plans to deploy a media management system to offer content such as music and video over mobile devices, while simultaneously facilitating the growth of the application developer community in Africa, which will enable Airtel to tap new sources of revenue. 

Speaking on the partnership, Manoj Kohli, chief executive officer (international) and joint managing director, Airtel said, ''Our relationship with IBM is catalytic in its delivery of information and communication technology solutions across Africa.''