Together good things happen - Airtel

Together good things happen
Bharti Airtel Annual Report 2009-10
Bharti Airtel Annual Report 2009-10
partners
Bharti Airtel has a successful record in nurturing partnerships – in technology sourcing, for infrastructure ownership, product
development and customer servicing.
Bharti Airtel redefined outsourcing in the telecom industry by partnering with global leaders for managing its IT systems
management and networks, areas that all telecom companies globally considered their core business till then. It started with Airtel
signing a deal with IBM, in March 2004, handing over its entire information technology management for next 10 years. This was
followed by outsourcing our entire network management to Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks.
Today, Bharti Airtel’s Mobile Network operations are managed by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens and Huawei (for Sri Lanka), Access
Network by Alcatel Lucent, business IT systems by IBM and transmission towers by Indus Towers and Bharti Infratel.
Some of the key developments in the realm of partnership included:
Forming of a joint venture with Alcatel Lucent for managing Bharti Airtel’s pan India Access Network for broadband and telephone services
Extension of contract with Ericsson and Nokia Siemens by 2 years to upgrade the network to provide a superlative customer experience
Signing of network expansion contracts worth USD 1.3 bn with Ericsson and USD 700 mn with Nokia Siemens
Co-building Fiber with BSNL, Idea and Vodafone
Tower/Site sharing through Bharti Infratel Limited with other GSM players
Bharti Airtel and Limelight Networks® partnered for global
Content Delivery Network (CDN) services. Bharti Airtel’s
customers now can access to Limelight Networks' 25 delivery
centres and 900 last mile networks across the globe. It will
also enhance their Internet user experience with HD movies,
online shopping and gaming etc. in the Indian marketplace.
Bharti Airtel formed a Strategic Business Alliance with Cisco
to help drive the growth for Indian enterprises, combining
the strength of Airtel’s Network service provider leadership
and Cisco’s Internet Protocol (IP) technologies.
‘Partner Space’, an online collaborative working platform to
connect, communicate and engage with partners was
launched last year. The platform enhances partnering through
online communication with partners; quicker resolutions;
answering partners queries online; and personalised attention
to issues.
Strategic partners have been an integral part of the
Company’s achievements over the years, have supported its
ambitious growth plans, helped it launch new & innovative
products in the market and maintain its leadership position in
the telecom industry. Besides these strategic partners, Airtel is
also engaged with a large number of partners spread across
the globe who support its product and service requirements.
Airtel closely manages these relationships with a focus on
bringing in synergies, operational efficiencies and enhance
customer experience.
Over the years, one of key drivers of Airtel’s success is the
ecosystem of partners it has created, which has helped Airtel
to be an agile, customer-centric organisation providing the
best in class services to the customers’ year on year.
“IBM’s partnership with Bharti Airtel is a combination of
advanced technology with market knowledge – but
that is just the beginning. More importantly, it is the
product of shared vision. Our companies saw early on
how the capabilities of a smarter planet were enabling
not only efficiency and growth, but new business
models and societal progress. Bharti is one of the
world’s leading innovators at all those levels.“
Samuel J. Palmisano
Chairman, President & CEO, IBM
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