Vodafone Essar to outsource IT to IBM in India

Mumbai: Vodafone Essar today announced that it would outsource all its IT operations to IBM India in a deal designed to boost efficiency and further enhance its service to customers.

IBM has a similar agreement with Bharti.

The five-year agreement aims to ensure scalable, flexible and resilient IT support for the fast-paced roll out of new network infrastructure, keeping pace with the rapid growth in Vodafone Essar''s customer base.

At the same time, the agreement is expected to lead to the faster roll out of more varied services to customers, while delivering greater cost efficiencies to Vodafone Essar.

Under the deal, IBM India will assume responsibility for the management of all Vodafone Essar''s IT operations with the exception of network service platforms, spanning both hardware and software. The agreement will encompass the management of IT services including the development and maintenance of key applications such as billing, business intelligence and financial systems.

IBM India will also manage other internal IT services for Vodafone Essar such as data centre operations and IT help desk including desk site, while supporting key areas such as security and change programmes.

Vodafone Essar will continue to retain full strategic control of its IT requirements.
To ensure greater flexibility for Vodafone Essar, the deal has been constructed on a risk-sharing basis, under the control of stringent service level agreements.

"This agreement further demonstrates our continued focus on scalability and cost control, key criteria for success in the Indian mobile market. In IBM we have chosen a global partner, committed to the industry and with a proven track record in the region", said Asim Ghosh, managing director, Vodafone Essar. "We are confident this will deliver cost efficiency as well as an enhanced service to our customers," he added.

Vivek Gupta, director and country manager, communication sector, IBM India  / South Asia, said, "India is home to the fastest growing telecom market in Asia, and with that comes significant challenges including effectively managing growth and improving profitability. IBM is delighted to share its extensive telecommunications industry insight and global IT outsourcing experience to help Vodafone Essar continue to deliver quality services to its rapidly growing customer base."

The deal builds on Vodafone''s existing agreement to outsource to IBM its application development and maintenance services in its operating companies in Spain, the Czech Republic, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Italy. That agreement was designed to improve the quality of software produced as well as deliver greater flexibility.

Vodafone completed the acquisition of Hutchison Essar in May 2007, rebranding the company as Vodafone in September in one of the largest rebranding campaigns undertaken in India.

Vodafone Essar in India is a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc and commenced operations in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison Telecom acquired the cellular licence for Mumbai. Vodafone Essar now has operations in 16 circles covering 86 per cent of India''s mobile customer base, with over 37.1 million customers (Source: Cellular Operators Association of India, October 31, 2007).

Over the years, Vodafone Essar, under the Hutch brand, has been named the ''most respected telecom company'', the ''best mobile service in the country'' and the ''most creative and most effective advertiser of the year''.

Vodafone is the world''s leading international mobile communications company, with operations in 25 countries across the five continents and 40 partner networks with over 200 million customers worldwide. Vodafone has partnered with the Essar Group as its principal joint venture partner for the Indian market.