Indian telecom company Bharti which has a subscriber base of more than 120 million has given its device service contract to CIBENIX, a Dublin based mobile software development company.
Airtel, the brand name under which Bharti operates in India is said to be adding more than 3 million new customers every month. Its currently the third largest mobile network in the world.
Cibenix’s ODS software application will be run as a portal by Bharti to promote its music, apps and other internet based services to its customers.
Cibenix has won the deal in competition with multinational IT service companies and other Indian software developers.
Company CEO Mike Brady said that it is significant achievement for a small Irish company to provide solutions to a large mobile network operator like Bharti.
The Dublin-based company has been paid close to €440,000 up front, and will earn a minimum of €2 million over the next two years. It is also understood that the value of the deal with go up significantly depending on the usage.
Mr. Brady also shared that the deal was unorthodox in the sense that it was not made on a revenue sharing model. “It’s a measure of how important Airtel sees Cibenix that it has paid in advance for software licences. This is highly unusual in India,” said Mr Brady.
The on device software platforms have a strategic value for mobile network operators. Earlier the operators used to have monopolistic relationships with customers which has started to change with the launch of devices like Ipad, Andriod etc. Other social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc are also forcing operators to think innovatively. As a result, many providers are looking for ways to make their own services more compelling for consumers and ultimately to earn more revenue from them.
In the Indian mobile context the handset comes separate from the operator’s SIM card which is a unique feature. For Cibenix this helped as its software is compatible to 160 out of 200 most popular phones.
“Airtel is number one in India so as a result we’re talking to the top six operators there. We’ll get more business out of India. Plus, Airtel is well known in Asia, so it’s a great calling card.”
Cibenix was founded in 2002 and has 25 employees based out of its Dublin hub. Some of its other customers include Vodafone, 3 group and Orascom group.
