The Hindu Business Line : Tech Mahindra bags $7.6-m deal with Telecom Fiji

Mr Vineet Nayyar (right), Vice-Chairman & Managing Director and CEO, Tech Mahindra, and Mr Taito Tabaleka, Group Acting Chief Executive Officer, Telecom Fiji Ltd, in Mumbai on Tuesday. — Shashi Ashiwal

Adith Charlie

Mumbai, June 24 In what could be a first for an Indian IT company, Tech Mahindra has bagged a $7.6-million transformational deal with Telecom Fiji Ltd, which is the sole provider of local and national (trunk) telephony services in Fiji.

This 18-month engagement is for replacing TFL`s technology systems to make it more agile in order to take on competition in Fiji’s recently deregulated telecom market, Mr Taito Tabaleka, Group Acting Chief Executive Officer, said in an exclusive interaction with Business Line, here on Tuesday.

“Tech Mahindra will replace Telecom Fiji’s IT systems, billing systems and also look at the prospects of outsourcing its billing requirements to other telecom carriers,” said Mr Tabaleka.

Till last year, the company had the exclusive licence to provide domestic voice and data services, while Vodafone Fiji — a joint venture between Vodafone and Telecom Fiji’s holding company — has been the sole provider of mobile services. Fiji’s telecommunications sector was deregulated on November 8, 2007.

It is learnt that the Venezuela-based Digitel GSM is also keen to enter Fiji.

For Tech Mahindra, this is the third major deal that it has announced in the last one month. On Monday, it said that it has sewn a $24-million retail transformation deal with Telecom New Zealand.

Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Ltd (ATH) is the parent company of Telecom Fiji and was formed by the government in March 1998 as the vehicle for privatisation of the telecommunications industry.

Separately, ATH is in talks with Indian IT companies for partnering its call centre business, said Mr Howard Politini, Deputy Chairman, ATH.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the population in Fiji speak English, which could be a boon for any back office-oriented industry,” said Mr Politini.

Moreover, Fiji has the same time zone advantage to countries such as Australia, New Zealand and parts of South Asia, which can be leveraged for serving clients.

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