Etisalat inks outsourcing deals with Tech Mahindra, Conflux, Aegis

Etisalat's India mobile telecommunications unit said on Tuesday that it has entered into a five-year outsourcing contract worth $150 million (Rs750 crore) with three Indian companies for back-office services.

Etisalat DB Telecom, which plans to start mobile services in 15 telecoms zones later this year, announced an end-to-end outsourcing agreement with business process outsourcing firms Tech Mahindra, Conflux and Aegis, the back-office arm of Essar Group.

UAE-based telecom giant Etisalat holds a 45 per cent stake in Etisalat DB Telecom India (formerly Swan Telecom).

Under the terms of the agreements, Tech Mahindra, Aegis and Conflux will set up contact centres to provide a host of customer management services, including billing, collections, customer service and retention amongst others. The centres will also be responsible for the complete management of back office processes. Customers will also have access to the contact centre via email, chat and text messages, besides inbound and outbound calls.

While Tech Mahindra will be responsible for managing Etisalat DB's services in north and south India, western and central India will be managed by Aegis. Conflux will be responsible for servicing customers in Bihar. The BPO's multi-site centres will provide both inbound and outbound services in regional languages, besides English and Hindi.

Commenting on the association, an Etisalat DB spokesperson said, "We are pleased to partner with Tech Mahindra, Aegis and Conflux, who have the proven expertise in managing large customer support operations for telecom service providers such as Etisalat, both in India and internationally. Their superior customer-facing processes will reflect the strong customer service ethos of Etisalat. We are confident that these associations will enable us to manage the full customer lifecycle and provide a higher level of customer management and experience of our services in India."

Etisalat DB Telecom, a joint venture between Etisalat and Dynamix Balwas Group, has licence to operate in 15 circles, including Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.