Bharti Airtel has signed a 10-year contract with IBM, which will manage IT for the Indian mobile operator’s 16 African units.
Bharti expects the outsourcing deal to enable it to deliver innovative and affordable 2G and 3G mobile services to the…
Bharti Airtel has signed a 10-year contract with IBM, which will manage IT for the Indian mobile operator’s 16 African units.
Bharti expects the outsourcing deal to enable it to deliver innovative and affordable 2G and 3G mobile services to the businesses it acquired from Kuwait-based operator Zain earlier this year.
IBM will deploy and manage IT infrastructure and applications to support Bharti Airtel’s goal of bringing affordable and innovative mobile services to remote locations in Africa. In addition, IBM will deploy advanced technologies created by IBM Research, including the Spoken Web – a voice-enabled Internet technology that allows users to access and share information simply by talking over an existing telephone. This is particularly compelling for populations with little or no literacy, visual impairments, or which lack access to PCs, the companies said.
According to a Deloitte report commissioned by the GSMA, only 40% Africans have a mobile, but demand is growing at some 25% a year.
Bharti is now present in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The deal is expected to be signed in Q4.
