Services provide fuel for growth

India has the highest telecom growth rates in the world and operator Bharti Airtel wants to capture as much of the market as possible. Via a managed services agreement with Ericsson, Bharti has been able to forgo the traditional telecom business model and focus instead on its core interests: acquiring customers and improving customer relations.

April 5, 2007

Jagbir Singh, chief of operations, Bharti Airtel Limited, says: "We have to ensure that our operational costs are the lowest in the world and that we have the fastest rollouts to gain market share and offer competitive tariffs to customers.

"For faster rollouts we need managed services and a partner like Ericsson. Ericsson is helping us maintain good quality of service, and we don't need to focus on the day-to-day issues of the network. This lets us focus on acquiring, owning and serving customers."

J. Sugumaran, senior vice president and CNO (Mobility), Bharti Airtel Limited, says: "We decided to find a new model that would help us differentiate ourselves in the market. Ericsson comes with immense technological capabilities. They design, implement and maintain networks, and they bring their best global practices here to work for us. We felt that they could manage the network in a better way and let us focus on our core values."

India is signing up more than 7 million new customers each month, and the market as a whole is expected to reach 400-500 million by 2010. There are eight other players in the market and India has the lowest tariffs in the world, so competitive pressures are intense.

Ericsson manages the day-to-day operations for more than 70 percent of Bharti's network, serving roughly 25 million subscribers in India. As part of the managed services agreement, Ericsson is also expanding the network by rolling out more than 1000 base stations every month. This means a new site is integrated into the network every 40 minutes.

Bimal Dayal, vice president at Ericsson India and key account manager for Bharti, says: "Bharti has grown by leaps and bounds over the past three years and the fuel for this growth has been, in part, the managed services deal with Ericsson. As the largest operator in India and by giving us large repeat orders, Bharti shows its confidence in Ericsson as a vendor and a credible large services provider."

Sarvdeep Garg, Ericsson Operations Director with the Bharti key account team, says: "Because of the high rollout, we have to be right the first time every time, which is why we have a series of checks and balances and rigorous tests to ensure quality at every stage. Basically, planning is the key to ensuring fast rollout with top quality service."