Convergence super-sized opportunity, says Infosys

Convergence, or the ability to carry video, voice and data on a single line or network, is a "super-sized" opportunity it is gearing up to exploit, Infosys Technologies said here on Saturday, at its 24th annual general meeting.

Infosys' revenues from "communications service providers" (CSP) or telecom utilities grew 79 per cent last fiscal, to $199 million, Subhash Dhar, a vice-president at the Bangalore-based IT services company said.

Because of convergence, CSP could save "hundreds of billions of dollars", but needed to make large investments upfront, Dhar, head of Infosys' CSP business unit said. So, the CSP would have "super-sized needs in transforming their networks and support systems and will look for 'scale players'", he said.

Revenue from telecom customers grew 68 per cent to $295 million. Started in 2003, the CSP unit had become one of Infosys' fastest growing businesses, Dhar said, with some 5,000 staff now. "Four of the top 10 CSPs in the world are our clients", he said.

Convergence will also push "customer self service", he said, in a case study: A "top CSP" in the US chose Infosys to build an online self-help portal for "its customers", which cost the CSP a tenth of what a call centre would for the same work.

"During a widespread union strike," the portal handled 75 per cent of all customer calls." The CSP now wants to add a voice-based portal for self-help, he said.

Worldwide, telecom de-regulation and convergence technologies allow cable companies to airlines to enter this business and "cherry-pick high value customers away from the incumbents".

But, existing telecom operators can offer data, television and video services: they need to roll out high-speed broadband networks reaching every home, and invest in video content.

So, as everyone scrambles to "protect home turfs, transform networks and watches out for nimble-footed startups", IT services companies that can offer scale can make a killing, Dhar said.