BCG adds Bharti, Lupin in 100 global challengers list
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has added telecom major Bharti Airtel and drug-maker Lupin into its list of 100 companies from the emerging markets which can challenge existing Fortune 500 firms over the next five years.
In a report titled ‘ BCG Global Challengers 2011, released globally, it states that these 100 firms, mostly from China, India, Brazil, Mexico and Russia, and for the first time four companies from South Africa and Egypt, are the hidden engines of the global economy and can qualify for inclusion in the Fortune Global 500 in five years as they grow faster and more profitably than MNCs from developed world.
This year, overall, there are 23 new challengers, including Bharti and Lupin, in the list from 16 countries. The BCG Global Challenger series was launched in 2006 to identify companies shaking up the global economy.
According to reports, the 100 challenger companies grew annually by 18 % during 2000-09. If they continue on their current growth path, they could collectively generate US$8 trillion in revenues by 2020, an amount roughly equivalent to what the S&P 500 companies generate today. These challengers’ revenue stood at US$ 1.3 trillion in 2009.
According to BCG India Partner & Director and a co-author of the report Sharad Verma, as competition intensifies, the boundaries between these two distinct sets of companies will continue to blur. Many challengers are creating disruptive business models and coming up with new and better ways to get the job done in many industries. Bharti Airtel exemplifies this approach with its innovations in outsourcing and distribution.
Of the 20 Indian firms in the list, six are from the Tata Group – TCS , Tata Steel , Tata Motors , Tata Global Beverages , Tata Communications and Tata Chemicals . Others are RIL , Infosys , L&T , M&M , Bajaj Auto , Wipro , Hindalco , Crompton Greaves , Dr Reddy’s , Bharat Forge , Suzlon and Vedanta .
Bharti to outsource operations; TCS, Infosys, Wipro, IBM in race
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bids have been invited by Bharti Airtel to outsource operations worth over a billion dollars for African assets it recently acquired from Kuwait’s Zain Telecom. This indicates that the company is looking for better deals than those being offered by its existing partners. Bids have been invited for IT-related services as well as the management and maintenance of mobile and landline networks in 15 nations.
TCS, Infosys and Wipro along with IBM are in the race as Bharti Airtel is looking for the best deal. Nokia Siemens and Ericsson which maintain and manage Bharti Airtel’s networks in India through multi-billion-dollar contracts will have to compete with China’s ZTE and Huawei and bids have already been called for.
Alcatel-Lucent has also been posed as a potential bidder for the African deal.
Indian telco Reliance plan mobile app stores
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Online mobile applications stores has been planned by one of the India’s top mobile firm, Reliance Communications, thus opening up a new revenue stream from add-on services such as music and social networking.
The first version of Reliance Communications application store would go live for GSM customers by the end of February and expended version would be available to its CDMA customers by the end of March.
Seventh-ranked Aircel was the first Indian operator to announce a mobile applications store in January when it signed a deal with number two software services firm Infosys Technologies.
Airtel to offer Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 technology
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, telecom services provider, has announced a strategic tie-up with Microsoft with the launch of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 platform that provides an opportunity to all Airtel customers to access corporate email via direct push technology.
The Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 platform offers a host of applications. All Airtel users will now have access to MS office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer), multi-media functionality (camera, MP3, video recording) and Line of Business applications like Sales Force Automation on their mobile phones.
Elaborating on Microsoft’s value proposition for customers, Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan, said, “The launch of Windows Mobile 5.0 is in line with our stated vision of creating People Ready Businesses. Windows Mobile 5.0 is the perfect solution for the global mobile workforce to work in an ‘always on’ environment and better organize their work and personal lives. The alliance with Bharti Airtel reflects the synergy between two industry leaders, both focused at innovating to help individuals realize their true potential. With this association Bharti Airtel thus joins 115 existing mobile operators who currently offer the Windows Mobile solution worldwide.”
Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 will be available to Airtel customers on the latest HP I-Paq and I-Mate handsets. The handsets are priced in the range of Rs 16,000 – Rs 65,000. Airtel enterprise customers will also get the benefit of preferential hand-set pricing. There are three price points for accessing the service Rs 399, Rs 599 and Rs 799 depending on the amount of data downloaded. A dedicated after-sales support, owing to the back-to-back SLA with all its partners would also be there to service the customers. The company also announced Infosys as its first enterprise customer for this service.
Source- http://www.voicendata.com
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