Airtel to outsource last-mile broadband connectivity

Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest private telecom service provider, is in discussions to outsource the last-mile connectivity of its broadband operations. The talks are with two infrastructure service providers, Alcatel-Lucent and Cisco, for outsourcing contracts.

The company provides broadband services through its subsidiary, Bharti Telemedia. ‘Last mile’ is the final leg of delivering connectivity from an operator’s end to the customer’s place. For broadband services, this can be either over wireless or through wired lines.

Outsourcing last-mile operations will help the company concentrate on its core competencies, even as it will help reduce cost of operations. And, as such connectivity needs a lot of approvals (in case of wired connections), this will help reduce time to reach customers, sources said.

Said an Airtel spokesperson: “Developing a strong partner ecosystem is part of Airtel’s unique business strategy. However, as a company policy, we do not comment on any market speculation.”

Alcatel-Lucent President (India) Vivek Mohan declined to comment and Cisco executives could not be immediately spoken to.