WIPRO SET TO BAG ANOTHER TELCO IT DEAL

Co Leads Race For Swan's Mega Contract

WIPRO, which has already bagged two large IT outsourcing contracts from telcos, is among the shortlisted contenders for another large outsourcing deal, this time from Swan Telecom. The other vendors that have made it to the shortlist include IBM and Tech Mahindra. The UAEbased operator Etisalat owns 45% stake in Swan Telecom.
    If Wipro wins this deal, the IT major would have won as many large outsourcing deals from telcos as IBM. Earlier this week, Wipro announced a nine-year deal with Unitech Wireless estimated at Rs 2,500 crore. In January 2008, it bagged a $600-million deal from Aircel Cellular. This deal is expected to be as large as the Unitech Wireless contract, said industry sources.
    IBM has large outsourcing contracts from Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. Till the Aircel deal, it had a dream run, bagging all the large deals from telcos.
    Close to seven vendors had bid for the Swan Telecom contract, but about four of them could be in the final shortlist, said an industry expert, who did not wish to be named. New telcos face deadline to roll out operations
HE said operators may prefer outsourcing to a player other than IBM for competitive reasons.
    "Wipro could be a favourite to win because IBM already has three large operators with it. So, new operators may prefer not to go with it. Tech Mahindra's niche focus may work against it in such contracts because the operators want vendors with a broad area of expertise," the expert said. Compared to Wipro, Tech Mahindra is also a relatively new entrant into the domestic market.
    Swan and other new operators are negotiating their IT contracts ahead of their equipment orders. In a response to a query on the company's IT outsourcing plans, a Swan Telecom spokesperson said: "We are currently in the preparatory stages and will announce our plans for the Indian market at the appropriate time."
    In a response to an e-mail from ET, Wipro said: "Wipro does not comment on speculations and as a policy, we do not comment on specific clients or business." New entrants like Unitech, Swan, Datacom and Loop are liable to pay penalty if they don't launch services even after 52 weeks of spectrum allotment. Beyond 52 weeks, there is a grace period of three weeks.
    "We evaluated Wipro on all parameters — financial and commercial — and found the company extremely competitive. Also, being new in the (telecom) vertical, they brought a lot of freshness in approach and innovative ideas. We went about it objectively and Wipro had the team and infrastructure to support the project," Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh had told ET about why the company decided to outsource to Wipro.
    n.shivapriya@timesgroup.com 

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