Nortel bags Bharti BPO deal

Nortel Networks has won a five-year deal from Bharti Airtel to provide call centre services for its mobile phone operations.

The deal, whose size has not been disclosed, allows Nortel to create a network operation centre and supply network design, integration, support and maintenance services for Bharti's contact centre.

Curt Hopkins, vice-president - global services, Nortel, said the deal was significant and quite sizable. Nortel, which was already doing business with Bharti, had beat "the usual suspects" to clinch the deal, he said.

"It was a hard-fought campaign," he said, adding, "but at the end of the day, what we did for them was to solve issues in carrying out their business, i.e. handling their customer base."

Bharti has nearly 20 million subscribers. The telecom major added 1.05 million users in January and another 1.07 million in February.

A 24x7 "virtual storefront" voice portal based on Nortel's interactive voice response solution will be the cornerstone of Bharti's new contact centre operation.

The call centre number will be the same for customers all over the country and they can avail of the services by speaking in English, Hindi, or four other regional languages.

The system will interact with them in a natural, conversational manner. Nortel has also designed the technology for interactive video response capability, a company release said.

"Bharti's objective is to differentiate itself in India's highly competitive communications environment by ensuring customer delight through personalised customer service, and accomplishing this through a highly cost-effective business model," said Jai Menon, director, information technology and innovation, Bharti Airtel.

"We found the right technology provider in Nortel, a worldwide leader in IVR technology with a proven track record in contact centre innovation for more than 30 years."

"Throughout our close collaboration with Bharti in designing this project, we have focused on meeting its business objectives with the best available technology and services," said Ashoka Valia, managing director - India, Nortel.

"Providing a fresh approach and an enhanced level of customer care, as measured through the satisfaction of Bharti's customers, is our joint objective," he said.

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