Airtel announces $100m deal with IBM

New Delhi, Aug 3 (UNI) Bharti Airtel today said it will invest 100 million dollar in a 'Service delivery platform', designed by IBM to enhance the gambit of content, application and services for the subscribers.

''The new service will open up new platforms for content providers to provide unified portal of services and will also for account huge amount of personalisation,'' President Bharti Airtel Manoj Kohli told reporters here.

It would deliver a wide range of facilities to 25 million customers, which is growing at a rate of over one million customers every month.

IBM will develop, manage and operate this Service Deliery Platform (SDP), thus generating an integrated environment to incorporate all the content and services under one platform, Mr Kohli added.

The service will enhance the spectrum of content, application and services and its access possible through multiple channels including SMS, MMS, WAP, Web and broadband.

The content providers to Airtel shall also benefit with the SDP by distributing it though multiple channels and they shall be able to test new devices and content services prior to launch.

The subscribers would be able to avail the benefits of SDP after 9-10 months.

The SDP will also enable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well as large enterprises to access to a large pool of content through mobile, landline and broadband connections.

IBM Asia Pacific General Manager Satish Khatu said the company will bring in lot of Internet protocols (IP) from around the world to make the innovation a success.

IBM had last month announced the establishment of a telecom research facility in New Delhi.

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