Bharti inks $50-M pact with Siemens

Friday, 02 July 2004, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Bharti Tele-Ventures, India's leading telecom service firms, and global mobile phone technology major Siemens Mobile Thursday announced the signing of a $50 million network management deal. As part of the three-year deal, Siemens Mobile will build and manage AirTel networks in the three circles of Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, said a Bharti Tele-Ventures statement issued here. New Delhi-based Bharti Tele-Ventures provides mobile telephone services in different parts of the country under the AirTel brand. "The three-year service agreement with Siemens is towards the management, maintenance, quality assurance and capacity expansion of the AirTel networks in three circles," said the statement. The initiative will result in providing congestion free networks with seamless coverage and enhanced quality in over 150 towns and cities in the three circles, it added. "The agreement will ensure that we have a state-of-the-art network, wider coverage and significantly improved quality of service," said Manoj Kohli, president (mobility) of Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. "We would also be able to leverage the economies of scale, thereby resulting in improved cash flows," he added. W. Schachermeier, managing director of Siemens Public Communication Networks Ltd, said: "We feel that this deployment will enable Bharti to offer world-class network quality and services to its end consumers." The agreement also provides for taking over close to 50 Bharti employees by Siemens. Bharti Tele-Ventures had an aggregate of 8.02 million customers at the end of May 2004, consisting of over 7.34 million mobile customers. The company offers mobile services in 16 out of 23 circles in India. It also provides fixed-line telephone services in five circles.
Source: IANS