-- Expand beyond mobile to 'One Airtel' spanning Broadband, Media (IPTV,
DTH) and Enterprise Businesses
-- Bring a unified experience to the customer across products --
distribution and prepaid strengthened
-- Build network sophistication -- add capability to manage combination
of heterogeneous transport and access networks
-- Bring in business resilience, continuity and robustness -- disaster
recovery fortified
-- This agreement is estimated to be US$150 million over a period of six
years
Bharti Airtel continues to bring innovative and compelling
experiences to its customers. The company is adding capability across
various segments to bring to its customers the 'One Airtel' experience
spanning all the three screens of mobile, PC and television.
With a focus on the execution of this strategy, Bharti Airtel has
strengthened its existing relationship with IBM (NYSE: IBM). IBM will
bringin its global expertise in areas including the telemedia business,
distribution,
enterprise segments and business resilience. The new agreement is estimated
to be US$150 million.
Speaking about the new agreement, Dr. Jai Menon, Director-IT & Innovation,
Bharti
Airtel, said, "We intend to continue to build upon the success of the
principle of utility computing, on which we had structured our partnership
with IBM. Our success has been in the countless innovations that we have managed
to
drive in our business and in doing so, bringing to our customers an
unmatched unified experience and great value adds. With a thrust on these
new areas, we are leapfrogging to the next level which will empower our
customers to make informed choices and provide seamless access to a host of
services."
"Bharti Airtel is continuing its leadership in the Indian telecom market
bymoving beyond the mobile," said Ramesh Awtaney, Vice President, Communications
Sector, Asia-Pacific, IBM. "By bringing to its customers unified services across
the entire spectrum of mobile, broadband and television, the company will
lead the next wave of telecom revolution in the country. IBM is proud to be
associated with Bharti Airtel as it continues to write telecom history in
India. We are geared up to support the growth and expansion of Bharti Airtel and
will continue to bring in global best practices and innovative solutions."
Mobile and beyond: With entry in the telemedia business of DTH and IPTV,
Bharti
Airtel will now provide the entire spectrum of services to its customers.
Through its partnership, IBM will implement IT systems that will enable it to
launch differentiated services in these new thrust areas. This will also help in
leveraging the current channels of Bharti Airtel to deliver new services.
Consistency and simplicity: By strengthening its distribution and prepaid
segment, Bharti Airtel will provide a unified experience to its customers. Its
services will now be more easily accessible and will simplify the use of
these services. IBM will support this by transforming the current IT
platforms, which will enhance customer experience by supporting differentiated
customer relationships. This will enable and support channel transformation,
which is essential for rural market penetration. IBM will also enhance the
delivery of value added products and services to the prepaid segments.
Efficient Networks: To improve customer satisfaction and provide seamless
services, IBM will work with Bharti Airtel in areas including LCR (Least Cost
Routing), GIS, Auto Discovery, Auto Provisioning and Auto Activation. These
applications will help to bring in enhanced efficiencies and cost savings,
besides improving service delivery.
Business Resilience: A robust and resilient infrastructure is essential to
catapult the company to the next level and the two partners will work to
make the IT infrastructure truly world-class. Disaster Recovery set up and IT
architecture will be enhanced to provide multi-node redundant systems.
Innovative
technology and solutions will be used to reduce cycle time and improve
responsiveness by implementing the 'quote to care' IT platform for the
Enterprise Service line.
This agreement was signed in December of 2007.
About Bharti Airtel Limited:
Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company of Bharti Enterprises, is India's
leading
integrated telecom services provider with an aggregate of 55.09 million
customers as of end of November 2007, consisting of 52.96 million mobile
customers. Bharti Airtel has been rated among the best performing companies in
the
world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list 2007.
Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units -- Mobile
services, Telemedia services and Enterprise services. The mobile business
provides
mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom
circles. The Telemedia business provides broadband & telephone services in 94
cities and is foraying into the IPTV and DTH segments. The Enterprise
services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and
national &
international long distance services to carriers. All these services are
provided
under the Airtel brand. Airtel's high-speed optic fibre network currently spans
over
55,000 kms covering all the major cities in the country. The company has two
international landing stations in Chennai that connect two submarine cable
systems
-- i2i to Singapore and SEA-ME-WE-4 to Europe. For more information, visit
www.bhartiairtel.in.
About IBM
For more information, visit www.ibm.com. Note to Editors: Broadcast-quality
b-roll and interview clips with IBM senior vice presidents Mike Daniels and
Ginni Rometty are available for download by registered journalists here. Daniels and Rometty discuss IBM's growth
in emerging markets and in IBM Global Services
