Datacom to outsource infotech solutions

In a first of its kind business proposition in India, Datacom Solutions, the telecom services arm of the Videocon group, has floated the idea of outsourcing its IT solutions on a revenue sharing basis. Datacom has received participation proposals from five top IT services companies — IBM, TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies — to outsource services, which, industry sources say, could be worth about Rs 3,000 crore over a 7-10 year period. Usually although telecom companies outsource their IT services to companies with domain knowledge, revenue sharing has never been the norm in India.Datacom was one of the five new pan-India GSM players licensed by the government earlier this year.Other players are ADAG’s Swan Telecom, Shyam Telecom, NRI investor Shivashankaran’s S-Tel and the telecom arm of realty major Unitech. Videocon group company has permission to start telecom operations in all the 23 telecom circles. Datacom plans to use the Videocon group’s countrywide presence through its network of distributors and retailers of electronic goods, numbering around 60,000. The company plans to launch its full fledged telecom operations be the end of the year. Datacom looks to get about 25 million customers in the first three years of its operations and another 25 million in the next two. The company has received bids from six global telecom networking majors—Nokia, Nortel, Alcatel, Ericsson, ZTE and Huwaei.