Bharti Airtel has selected IBM , Tech Mahindra and Spanco as partners to drive customer service across 16 African countries. An agreement is expected to be finalised soon.

Under the agreement Bharti Airtel, which owns and currently operates the Zain brand in 16 countries across Africa, will outsource core customer service functions such as call centres and back office as it prepares for significant growth in the region. The mobile telecommunications operator currently counts over 40 million customers across its African operations and is targeting to achieve 100 million by 2013.

The widespread adoption of the business process outsourcing (BPO) model by Bharti Airtel across its operations will also have tangible benefits for development of the sector in each country, create additional job opportunities and develop local talent. The partners will provide services in each market that will sustain and build skills, capabilities and resources.

Bharti Airtel is expecting that the outsourcing of customer service operations will play a key role in making the operator competitive in Africa as it focuses on making mobile communications affordable and available across markets.

Currently over 4,000 people are employed in Africa supporting Bharti Airtel’s customer service operations. Going forward the number of people employed in managing the operator’s customer service functions will increase as Bharti Airtel expands its network and customer base.

Bharti Airtel has operations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

The UAE’s integrated telecom service provider, Du, has selected Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to comprehensively upgrade its mobile network operations in the UAE, investing AED 400 million (US$109 million). The project is expected to enhance Du network performance and operations. NSN will expand Du’s 2G network and introduce its 3G HSPA+ network with speeds of up to 42Mb as part of the operator’s existing 3G HSPA+ network.

Under the scope of the deal, NSN will provide a comprehensive portfolio of telecommunication equipment and services across radio, core, transmission, value added services and operational support systems. This upgrade comes on the back of the successful completion of financing facilities for NSN equipment announced earlier this month.

Batelco Group CEO Peter Kaliaropoulos will resume the leadership role for Batelco’s Bahrain operation as Gert Rieder, who joined Batelco Bahrain in April 2009 has resigned due to personal reasons.

“I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to Gert for his contribution and efforts to improve Batelco’s Bahrain operations over the past 18 months. We wish him and his family well for the future,” said Kaliaropoulos.

“The search for a new Bahrain CE is already underway but such a process may take some time. However, I look forward to working directly again with the Bahrain executive team until the appointment of a suitable replacement,” Kaliaropoulos added.

Batelco Group delivered for the nine months ending September 30, an operating profit of BD80.8 million, a three per cent decline versus the same period in 2009. However, changes to taxation rules in Jordan and Yemen, foreign exchange currency movements and share of profits and losses from associate companies impacted the telco’s net profit by BD12.1 million resulting in a Q3 net profit of BD 19.3 million and for the first nine months group net Profit of BD66 million a 17 per cent decline versus the same period last year.

Lower numbers of customers and lower prices in Bahrain have reduced revenues and operating profits, commented Shaikh Hamad

“We informed the market in February this year that our overall net profit will be lower due to our share of losses in our Indian start-up operation and competitive pressures in Bahrain. Based on the current outlook we are maintaining our guidance that net profit for 2010 is likely to be 15 per cent lower than 2009. Operating profit however, is expected to be 2-3 per cent below 2009,” Peter Kaliaropoulos, CEO of Batelco Group said.

The net profit amount reported for the nine months to end-September represented a 17 per cent decline compared to the same period in 2009.

“The competitive environment in Bahrain due to the entry of the third mobile operator and ongoing regulatory reform has created a highly competitive market place. In contrast to other markets Batelco operates in, Bahrain was the only market in Q3 where Batelco experienced an actual reduction of customers for mobile and broadband services. Lower numbers of customers and lower prices in Bahrain have reduced revenues and operating profits,” commented Shaikh Hamad Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, chairman of Batelco.

Batelco Group’s customer stood at just over 7.9 million across all our operations for all products and services at the end of September. A year ago the operator’s mobile subscriber base was 4.9 million but has now reached approximately 7.5 million representing an increase of 53 per cent.

Umniah, Batelco Group’s 96 per cent owned subsidiary in Jordan, continues to demonstrate its strength and popularity in the Jordanian market with a mobile customer base of 1.8 million customers.

Sabafon, the operation in Yemen in which Batelco holds a 26.94 per cent equity investment, counted 3.2 million subscribers at the end of the period.

Etihad Atheeb, in which Batelco holds 15 per cent equity, continues to grow in the Saudi market through offering quality broadband and voice services under the brand GO. Etihad now delivers to 92,000 customers an increase of five per cent quarter-on-quarter.

Subscriber numbers in S Tel India, in which Batelco holds 42.7 per cent equity, have also grown in Q3 to 1.64 million across its operations in Bihar, Orissa and Himachal Pradesh and the recently launched Assam and North East.

Qtel Group announced that during the nine months to September 30, 2010, group revenue advanced 14.4 per cent year-on-year to QAR 20.0 billion (US$5.49 billion) The group’s EBITDA improved by 15.1 per cent year-on-year to QAR 9.5 billion, with its EBITDA margin ending the period at 48 per cent.

Qtel’s consolidated customer base stood at 68.9 million at the end of September, with the group experiencing strong momentum in Indonesia, where Indosat’s consolidated customer base rose to 40.4 million at the period-end, a year-on-year increase of 40.8 per cent. Revenue for the Indonesian operator increased 27.8 per cent to QAR 5.9 billion for the nine months to end-September.

In Qatar, Qtel reported successfully maintaining market and income leadership, with customer numbers steady at 2.4 million and a mobile customer market share of 77.9 per cent.

For the three months to end-September, Qtel generated revenues of QAR 6.889 billion, up 16 per cent year-on-year. EBITDA amounted to QAR3.270 billion, up 16.2 per cent year-on-year, though net profit attributable to Qtel shareholders fell 8.3 per cent to QAR 651.9 million.