Bharti Airtel, IBM strike technology operations deal in Africa

Bangalore, Sept. 18 (ANI): U.S.-based International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) has entered into an agreement to manage telecommunications-services provider Bharti Airtel Ltd.'s technology operations in 16 African countries, the companies said Friday.

According to the Wall Street Journal, under the proposed 10-year contract-estimated to be worth more than a billion dollars by an analyst, IBM will consolidate Bharti Airtel's information-technology operations in the 16 African countries into one integrated system.

IBM will also oversee the management of all of the technology applications, data-center operations, servers, storage and desktop services, the companies said in a joint statement.

The contract is to be finalized in the fourth quarter, they said, without providing any financial details. (ANI)