IBM to provide solution to monitor Bharti Infratel assets

Bharti Infratel, the passive infrastructure arm of Bharti Airtel, today said it has selected IBM to provide a technological solution that will enable the tower company to monitor infrastructure across 11 telecom circles.

IBM will provide 'intelligent site operations' at more than 32,000 Bharti Infratel tower-sites spread across 11 telecom circles in India, IBM said in a statement.

However, the deal size was not disclosed.

IBM already handles the technology side of telecom operator Bharti Airtel's operations in India and Africa.

The solution will help Bharti Infratel monitor and manage its large and distributed tower infrastructure, as well as centrally orchestrate and track its operations, it added.

The 'smart solutions' collect data on energy consumption and fuel consumption and trigger alarms in case of any exigencies at each cell tower.

This data is then fed into a monitoring system, which analyses it, thereby helping the company make better business decisions.

"The IBM solution has helped us automate the entire process and is helping in reducing costs and driving optimisation, besides proactively preventing service outages," Bharti Infratel Chief Information Officer Prashant Veer Singh said.

"The green solution enables Bharti Infratel and IBM to partner further and uncover more such opportunities around assets and processes of even greater environmental value," R P Singh, Director, IBM-Bharti Enterprises partnership, Global Technology Services, IBM India/South Asia, said.