The revival in the telecom sector has brought good tidings for Infosys
Technologies. The telecom business registered 44 percent growth at Rs 794.7
crore, up from the previous year's Rs 551.81 crore. The vertical's
contribution to the company's overall revenues registered a marginal
improvement from 15.23 percent last fiscal to this year's 16.68 percent.
The growth has been due to the acquisition of new clients as well expansion
of business from existing customers. Infosys saw the addition of leading
corporations to its client list like: Bell Canada, British Telecom, Verizon, and
Telstra. It signed a five-year contract with Telestra Telecom for $50 million,
which involves software development for core applications as well as IT
services. The deal was closely followed by the snapping up of Australia-based
Expert Information Services for $22.9 million. Expert Information Services,
which held a five-year contract with Telstra, was asked to re-tender and this is
widely believed to be the prime factor for Infosys' interest in Expert. The
acquisition also ends all speculation regarding Infosys' hesitation to go
ahead with its acquisition despite sitting on a cash chest of $470 million.
The year marked another big-ticket win for Infosys in British Telecom. The
multi-year deal is significant because it involves consulting and taking over of
core operations. This means a huge tilt towards onsite business.
A premier wireless carrier in the US chose Infosys to design, develop, and
deploy a financial and marketing data mart that will help it analyze its
financial performance. Infosys was selected by a growing telecom business
process outsourcing provider in the US to partner in the development of its
order and inventory management systems.
Another key client added was a leading provider of highly integrated silicon
solutions that enable broadband communications and networking of voice, video,
and data services. In the Asia-Pacific region, a premier telecommunications
carrier chose Infosys to help them increase the effectiveness of their
integrated telecommunications services.
Infosys also focused on expanding its offerings and entered the telecom
solutions area through a tie-up with US-based Quintessent Communications.
Infosys and Quintessent will work together to develop and test selected
applications that automate data exchange between telecom carriers. The company
plans to set up a multi-operations setup that will be involved in marketing,
software development, and consulting activities. It also plans to get into
high-value service business and widen services portfolio in order to address the
problem of pricing pressures.
Infosys entered the arena of product development in the Asia-Pacific region
by forming a strategic partnership with Fujitsu to co-develop and provide
functionality enhancement services to the Fujitsu suite of software products.
Such traction in its client base as well as expansion of business from
existing big-ticket accounts such as Cisco, Nortel and Lucent has seen its
manpower base increase from 1,800 employees to 3,500 employees dedicated to
telecom business, during the year.
Internally, Infosys restructured its telecom business during the year in
order to have a greater focus on the service provider segment. Notable customers
amongst vendors include Cisco, Nortel, Lucent, NextTel, and Evolving Systems.
Another noteworthy achievement by Infosys was winning the TL9000
certification by BVQI. This will also entail lowering the cost of ownership to
clients through: shared goals on schedule adherence, zero defects, on-time
service, and improved productivity.
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