Nortel  today announced an enhanced managed services agreement under which Nortel will continue to provide its contact centre technology (CCT) solution.

This is a two-year extension to the initial contract announced in March 2006. Bharti Airtel plans to extend the efficiencies achieved through this enhanced agreement to its customers, who will benefit from this service option by getting more power in their hands.

Nortel's CCT solution for Bharti Airtel features interactive voice and video response capabilities, providing a 24x7 'virtual storefront' where customers can complete routine transactions and subscribe to new services through an auto attendant that interacts naturally in English, Hindi and four other regional languages. More than 70 percent of Bharti Airtel customer requests are handled through this virtual storefront, resulting in greater availability, flexibility and responsiveness to subscribers.

"We are highly focused on our customers and continue to innovate and invest in enhancing their experience," said Dr. Jai Menon, director, Technology and Customer Service, Bharti Airtel. "Our keen focus coupled with Nortel's ability to provide cutting-edge technological solutions and expertise in this domain will surely help us to further enhance the experience of our customers."

"We are continually redefining the way we leverage our partnerships to bring delight to our customers," Dr. Menon said. "These partnerships have been designed with a single-minded focus to bring world class service experience for our customers."

Bharti Airtel benefits from unique 'per call' pricing that ties CCT costs to customer growth and the level of service Nortel delivers - in effect, pay for performance. The more calls Nortel's CCT service handles quickly and professionally, the more satisfied Bharti Airtel subscribers become and the more new subscribers are attracted.

Bharti Airtel and Nortel were recognized for this unique and mutually beneficial relationship with a  2007 Forbes Outsourcing Excellence Award for "Best First Steps" in outsourcing practices.

Nortel also provides Bharti Airtel with network design, planning, implementation, integration, support and maintenance from the Nortel Global Services portfolio, delivered from Nortel's Network Operations Center in Gurgaon, India.

"The fact that Bharti Airtel is strengthening its relationship with Nortel is testament to the ongoing success of our next-generation solutions and services," said Hitesh Lokhandwala, managing director, Nortel India. "With Nortel's technology and Bharti Airtel's innovative approach, we are helping to deliver the enhanced levels of care Bharti Airtel customers deserve."

Nortel has deployed more than 60,000 contact centres and 8,000 self-service solutions worldwide. Nortel contact centre solutions support an estimated four million agents handling 70 million calls per day. For its top 10 self-service customers alone, Nortel solutions process more than 14 million calls per day and six billion calls per year. Nortel can help businesses reduce call-handling costs from more than US$6 per agent-handled call to less than 35 cents, in most cases providing a very short return on investment.

About Bharti Airtel Limited

Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company of Bharti Enterprises, is India’s leading integrated telecom services provider with an aggregate of around 82.6 million customers as of end of October 2008, consisting of 80.19 million mobile customers. Bharti Airtel Limited has been voted as India's most innovative company, in a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal.

Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units - Mobile services, Telemedia services and Enterprise services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles. The Telemedia business provides broadband & telephone services in 95 cities, DTH services and is foraying into the IPTV segment. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national & international long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.

Information Source:    Nortel

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