Bharti to outsource $1 Billion cable business by March 2010

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Bharti to outsource $1 Billion cable business by March 2010
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel, one of the Asia's leading providers of telecommunications services has invited bids to outsource the management of its 1,20,00 km-plus of inter-city optic fibre cable network. The company plans to close this deal before the end of running fiscal (2009-10), reports Economic Times. According to the sources related with this deal, said that the deal is estimated to be worth up to $1 billion over a five-year period. In an interview to Economic Times, Manoj Kohli, CEO, Bharti Airtel said, "We will form a JV and have a stake in the company to which we award this contract." Currently the company operates optical fibre cable network of over 100,000 route kilometers, and is planning to renew its multi-billion network-outsourcing contracts with Ericsson and Nokia Siemens this year. State-owned company BSNL, which has the largest fibre network in the country, comprising about 600,000 km route is also set to invite bids from segment players in February to outsource the management of its network. Bharti Airtel and BSNL contracts could be the largest outsourcing deals in the country this calendar year. With Alcatel-Lucent being a global leader in the fixed line and fibre optic space, its existing JV with Bharti should be the front-runner to bag the new contract. Currently, India is divided into 22 telecom circles. Sweden's Ericsson manages Bharti's networks in 15 circles while the rest is handled by Nokia Siemens. So far, Bharti has signed four major network outsourcing deals with Ericsson in the past five years since signing a $400-million deal in February 2004. The latest contract in mid-2007 was valued at $2 billion.