Aircel ties up with Infosys for mobile applications; plans sale of tower business

Mobile phone service provider Aircel today signed an agreement with technology major and the country's No 2 software exporter, Infosys Technologies, to source a range of mobile phone applications.

Infosys will implement its new application platform called Flypp for the Aircel project, the companies said in a joint statement. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Aircel, a unit of Malaysia's Maxis, hopes to beat competition through innovating and offering customers new applications on their handsets such as navigation maps, downloadable videos, games and music.

Infosys' Flypp offers mobile operators a technology platform to offer a wide spectrum of applications.

Aircel, meanwhile, said it would finalise a buyer for its 17,000 telecom towers across the country in the next six weeks. Aircel maintains about 38,000 towers, of which about 17,000 are owned by the company.

"We have not concluded the deal. We are in the final stages of discussions with three players and will finalise a buyer in the next four to six weeks," Aircel CEO Gurdip Singh said.

Tata Quippo and GTL Infrastructure are reported to be among the main players which are in the fray to buy the towers.

Malaysia's Maxis Communications holds 74 per cent in Aircel.