www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The IT firms are likely to grab outsourcing contracts worth up to $2Bn from the new entrants in the Indian mobile market like Swan Telecom, Unitech Wireless, Loop Telecom, ByCell Communications and Datacom. The operators are in talks with various IT vendors like Tech Mahindra, IBM, Wipro and Infosys.

“We will outsource all our IT operations, including setting up of IT networks and managing services. We have shortlisted four IT players and are in advanced talks to finalise one of them. The size of deal will be around $600 million for about 10 years,” Unitech Wireless executive director Rajeev Bawa said. The entrant is anticipated to close the deal next month.

Swan Telecom is reportedly in conversation with IT companies, including Tech Mahindra, Wipro and IBM, for a possible outsourcing deal. The deal, according to industry sources, will be worth $500 million.

Tech Mahindra marketing Vice-President Rajesh Chandiramani confirmed that the company has made presentations to ByCell and Swan Telecom. “Deals with the new telecom players can vary from $200 million to $1 billion in terms of size. We expect telcos to decide on their IT vendors soon,” Mr Chandiramani added.

ByCell’s plans to outsource its IT network remain stagnant at the moment, driven by administrative delays regarding grant of licence.

Sistema Shyam CEO & President Vsevelod Rozanov said “Our in-house IT team is currently managing the network and enterprise operations. We are exploring and evaluating options between in-house, managed services and outsourcing of IT services, and a partner will be chosen at an appropriate time,”.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, the established mobile operator of the country, was the first one to outsource its IT services in 2004 and the deal signed then was worth $750-million, a five year contract. Following the footsteps, Idea Cellular and Vodafone, inked IT outsourcing deals with American technology major.

Aircel, the operator spreading its wings across the nation, had awarded a nine year outsourcing contract to the Indian IT firm Wipro, worth $600 million.