Bharti Airtel - koolfriend4u
Bharti Airtel, India`s largest telecom player, is planning to outsource the management and maintenance of its 80,000 km-plus inter-city optic fibre cable network, reports Economic Times. The estimated worth of the deal is about USD 500 million spread over a five-year period.
The deal is in line with the company`s policy of outsourcing non-core activities to save costs and become a telecom marketing company.
In the past, Bharti has entered into multi-dollar outsourcing deals with vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, which build, operate and manage its mobile network.
In April 2009, the company entered into a joint venture with Franco-American telecom gear maker Alcatel-Lucent to manage its landline and broadband business.
Bharti is the minority partner in the 26:74 joint venture, and is paying the JV company about USD 500 million (Rs 25 billion) over a five-year period for managing its landline and broadband business in about 100 cities for the next five years.
Shares of the company gained Rs 8.35, or 2.23%, to end at Rs 382.50. The total volume of shares traded was 906,109.00 at the BSE (Tuesday).