Mobily Info to expand development centre

Saudi Arabia-based GSM operator Etihad Etisalat Company on Tuesday announced plans to pump in an additional Rs 70 crore into its subsidiary Mobily Infotech India "" which specialises in providing IT solutions to telecom operations carried out by the parent company under the brand name of Mobily in West Asia "" by the end of 2010.

Mobily Infotech, which was started in Whitefield EPIP area in 2007 with an investment of Rs 20 crore, provides IT solutions and consulting services to Etihad Etisalat in areas of telecom billing, mediation, customer relationship management, connectivity solutions, data processing and machine services for aiding business solutions.

Addressing a press conference here, Mobily Infotech CEO Ahmed Al-Oraini said the subsidiary will add more skilled manpower to Mobily's IT division and allow the company to handle much-tighter IT project deadlines. At present, Mobily Infotech has employed 70 IT professionals and there are plans to increase it to 800 in the next five years, he said.

On Mobily's expansion plans in India, Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) Managing Director Khalid Omar Al Kaf said: "At the moment, we are stationed in Bangalore and are watching India's success on the telecom front. If we find the right chemistry with any of the companies here, we will explore the possibilities of entering into a partnership or going in for acquisition."

Mobily, with a customer base of 10 million in West Asia and Africa "" had achieved profits of $368 million and its total revenue was pegged at $2.24 billion at the end of 2007.