Australia's largest telecommunications company Telstra plans to offshore some of its finance, accounting and voice-related back-office processes as part of a total overhaul.

This could translate into an $80-million, or Rs 360-crore, revenue opportunity for homebred outsourcing majors, according to Mr Alok Shende, principal analyst, Ascentius Consulting.

Infosys and Tech Mahindra (both of which already work with Telstra) are competing with the likes of HP and IBM for this deal, going by reports in the Australian media. However, analysts say pure play Indian BPOs such as Genpact, EXL and WNS could also be in the reckoning.

Telstra spokesperson, Ms Karina Keisler, did not say if the Melbourne-based company was in talks with some of these Indian companies. In response to a Business Line questionnaire, she said, “What I can tell you is that we are in the market for a request for proposal (RFP) process for some back-of-house services, but it is very early in the process and no decisions have been made. The RFP is an initial step as part of a full strategic review of the business called ‘Project New' and is aimed at testing the market to see what the possibilities are.”

The A$25-billion Telstra had embarked on ‘Project New' last October to improve online customer service, simplify prices and cut costs. One of the early proponents of the offshoring model, it set aside $400 million for this task. “The scarcity of qualified technology professionals is one of the reasons why Australian companies have outsourced despite their better performance during the period of worldwide economic turmoil. It also demonstrates the relevance of the offshoring model even in times of growth,” said Mr Sudin Apte, Chief Executive Officer of advisory firm, Offshore Insights.

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