After purchasing the African assets of Kuwait’s Zain in a $9bn deal, Bharti Airtel has called on IT companies and network operators to bid for the IT-related services resulting from the deal.
Various IT companies and network operators, including IBM and three Indian IT companies: TCS, Infosys and Wipro, will be competing for contracts from the Indian firm to run its African networks, according to Global Telecom Business.
The outsourcing refers to the management and maintenance of the mobile and landline networks in about 15 African nations.
Bharti has been in partnership with IBM since 2004 on the IT managed services side. Another potential bidder, Alcatel-Lucent, last year won a $500-million mandate from Bharti, regarding the transformation of its fixed line networks in India. Bharti has also formed a joint-venture with the French telecommunications and networking solution provider.
Comments are closed.