Patni clinches multi-year UK telecom deal

Close on the heels of the announcement of its multi-million dollar deal with UK-based The Carphone Warehouse, Patni Computer Services has entered into a multi-year deal with a company in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region and will be announcing the details shortly.

Speaking to Business Standard, Neeraj Gupta, head of telecom business unit at Patni Computer Services Limited, said, "We will be making an announcement regarding a strategic telecom deal soon." Without outlining the specifics, Gupta said that it's a multi-year deal of the size of $10 million-and-above per year.

Patni has around 25 clients in the telecom space at present. "There are several global telecom contracts that will be up for renewal in the coming two years. We are hoping to grab a significant portion of that pie," Gupta said.

The telecom unit contributes to around 15 per cent of the company's business and Gupta expects its share to increase to 20 per cent this year. The company has seen its billing rates improve by 10 per cent over the last couple of years, he added.

Patni's Hyderabad and Pune centres operate in the telecom space. The company employs 300 people in Hyderabad and 500 in Pune. It plans to up its Hyderabad headcount to 500 in the next few months and Pune headcount to around 800 this year.

The Mumbai-headquartered company had recently announced its plans to set up a Rs 500-crore campus in Hyderabad.

"Over a period of time, our campus will operate across all verticals and not just telecom," Gupta said.

Patni provides services to clients operating in the manufacturing, insurance, banking and financial services, telecom, retail, and energy and utilities industries.