Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s largest telecom firm by market share, today said it has formed a joint venture with France’s Alcatel Lucent to manage its broadband and fixed line services. The JV will lead the telco’s migration into next generation networks to offer advanced services such as high speed Internet, triple play and media-rich value added services. Bharti owns 26% stake in the yet-to-be-named JV, with Alcatel-Lucent holding the rest. Bharti has also signed a $500 million, five-year managed services contract with the new JV, under which the latter will manage Bharti’s 3 million broadband and fixed line subscribers under its telemedia business.

SEE ALSO: Bharti will not move any assets into the new JV and customers will continue to be owned by the Airtel brand, Kohli said. The JV will have some 4,000 employees and they will come from both the JV partners, he said, declining to give an exact breakup of how many will be transferred from each company. A CEO will shortly be named and the JV will begin operations at the earliest. He emphasised that more than the savings from the deal, Bharti was excited about the transformation of the network and the user experience. "Unlike the wireless business, here, you have to enter the customer's premises, install and commission the service. The engagement is much higher and we need to make sure this experience is best-in-class globally," Kohli said.

Bharti CEO Manoj Kohli (pictured, right) had to field several questions at the press conference on why the company decided to form a joint venture, rather than sign a straightforward service management contract with Alcatel-Lucent. Bharti’s rival Reliance Communications has a similar contract with Alcatel-Lucent. Kohli explained it away by saying fixed line and broadband services need far greater customer engagement than wireless services, and the JV signifies a deep commitment towards “transforming the network and the customer experience” in the telemedia business.