Bharti Airtel has selected IBM to manage computing technology and services that power its mobile networks in 16 African countries in a 10-year planned agreement, the companies said on Friday.
An agreement would be finalised in the fourth quarter, the companies said in a statement.
Bharti was the first Indian mobile operator to outsource its network to save on costs, a strategy that helped it on its way to become the country's top mobile operator.
IBM already manages Bharti's IT infrastructure in India in a 10-year deal that began in 2004. The deal had an initial value of about $750-million, but is estimated to have grown manifold as it is linked to Bharti's subscriber and revenue growth.
"Bharti Airtel plans to replicate the success of its relationship with IBM by lowering the barrier to entry for the people of Africa to own a mobile device," the statement said.
Bharti said the partnership will help it scale its network and systems to more than 100 million African customers by 2012, from about 36 million currently.Read more:
