Airtel Africa signs landmark deal for managed VAS services with Comviva

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, announced a major deal for Managed VAS Services with Comviva, the global leader in providing mobile solutions beyond VAS for its Africa operations. As part of the five-year deal, Comviva will manage all VAS nodes and provide services across Airtel’s 16 operations in Africa.

With the signing of this deal, Airtel Africa becomes the first telecom services operator in Africa to have a managed services agreement for its complete value added services portfolio. In addition to managing all the VAS nodes, Comviva will also manage the complexities associated with the emergence of multiple technologies, different standards, myriad applications and content. With Managed VAS Services, which will be launched commercially this month, Comviva aims to help grow Airtel’s value added service business in Africa.

Announcing the deal, Manoj Kohli CEO (International) and joint MD, Airtel Africa, said: “As we expand our operations and service portfolio in Africa, we aim to deliver a broad portfolio of services and a superior experience for our customers. By handing over management of operations to Comviva, we can enhance efficiencies in our operations and bring a closer focus on marketing initiatives that will help drive usage and engagement levels across our customer base. We expect this move to further support brand differentiation by enabling faster time to market, enhanced service performance and greater innovation – all of which will benefit our customers.”

Airtel is a pioneer in adopting managed services. Airtel Africa has outsourced its core customer service functions, including call centres and back office operations to IBM, Tech Mahindra and Spanco. In September 2010, the company also selected IBM to manage its IT systems to power the mobile communications network across the continent.

Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, Comviva, said: “This is a landmark deal for Comviva, as we will manage all VAS nodes across Airtel operations in 16 countries in Africa. As the operator portfolio has grown in breadth and complexity, there is a growing need to create greater operational simplicity and enhance efficiencies whilst enabling improved service performance. The Managed VAS approach will enable formulation of a clear end-to-end product strategy founded on a customer-driven roadmap, which will drive service uptake and satisfaction levels, whilst optimizing cost structures.”

“Our success with Airtel Sri Lanka and in Airtel India, where we manage over 2,100 VAS nodes against stringent SLAs, has given Airtel the confidence to outsource the management of its entire Africa VAS operations to Comviva.” added Mohapatra.