Wipro Info bags Rs2,400cr Aircel contract

The 9-year deal will help the telco expand India presence.

In one of the largest IT outsourcing deals in the area of telecom, Wipro Infotech, the domestic, West Asia and Asia Pacific IT services business of Wipro Technologies, has bagged a multi-year outsourcing contract from telecom services provider Aircel, a Maxis group company.

The contract, which will be executed over a period of nine years, will fetch Wipro a revenue of $450-600 million (around Rs 1,800-2,400 crore), sources in Aircel said.

As per the contract, Wipro will be responsible for delivering the next generation business transformation to Aircel through business-IT alignment, implementation of future-ready IT architecture and deployment of tools to sustain comprehensive IT operations over the life of the contract.

"We found a great partner in Wipro. Although we had been working with them earlier, it was on a much smaller scale. We are now taking this to a larger partnership, where they will be our partner in long-term business transformation as we are set to expand our pan-India presence. The partnership will also provide us the scalability in our IT operations," Rohit Chandra, executive director, Aircel told Business Standard.

Aircel, which started its operations in Tamil Nadu, today boasts of 9.5 million subscribers with a presence in 10 circles across the country, including Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Orissa and West Bengal.

The company has also applied for permission to launch its services in the remaining 13 circles, which will be executed once the spectrum is available.

Chandra said the company was handling its IT infrastructure internally, but as it was growing in size and scale, and was ready to launch some next generation services such as MobileTV, WiMax and 3G, Wipro would be playing a major role.

According to Wipro, the Business-IT alignment will be achieved through the implementation of TeleManagement Forum's eTOM framework. The company will deliver the IT Architecture, applications and infrastructure transformation using globally-accepted standards including TM Forum's Next Generation OSS.

This will deliver a scalable, flexible and secure platform comprising a suite of industry-leading software applications. The platform will allow the launch of next generation services including WiMax, Mobile TV and 3G services for Aircel.

Wipro will also deploy component-based Service Delivery Platform (SDP) for Aircel to deliver a range of services including multi-channel access, real time information delivery, multimedia content and VAS.

This SDP will accelerate launch of services and enhance customer experience with higher efficiencies, the company added.

"Wipro will deliver next generation business transformation for Aircel by creating a futuristic platform to launch innovative, leading edge services and delivering unmatched customer experience. We will combine our global telecom expertise with our total outsourcing proposition to deliver a seamless service experience. This is a strategic relationship for Wipro and we are committed to making it a showcase in the global telecom industry," said Suresh Vaswani, president, Wipro Infotech & Global IT Service Lines.

During the last two years, Wipro Infotech has won 10 outsourcing assignments including the Dena Bank and HDFC Bank deals.

However, this would be the company's first total outsourcing deal in the area of telecom, said Anil Jain, vice-president, Corporate Business Unit, Wipro Infotech.