Bharti Airtel Planning launch Virtual Phone.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel is planning to launch "Virtual Phones", a technology that allows users to use as many as 10 different numbers from a single phone, reports the Financial Chronicle.

Developed by Bharti-owned Comviva Technologies, the application comes embedded with the SIM card and offers users to "opt" for his number whenever the user requires it. The user group will be password protected with each user having his own password to access his phone. Airtel is reportedly undertaking field trials of the service. Comviva, in co-operation with South African operator MTN, already has the service in South Africa. Airtel expects the technology to be operational in two months time and India might see the first services roll out in the rural areas of the country.

According to Airtel, no other operator in India has a similar technology currently and for the same reason, the implementation of this technology will provide Airtel an early head start in this segment.

The idea is to provide subscribers more value with just a single instrument. While there have been cases of one SIM using two numbers, if Airtel's plans bears fruits, it will be the first time that users will get as many as ten numbers from a single SIM and that too, with just one handset. Singapore's SingTel and UAE's Etisalat already have this system in place where users have been assigned two numbers on the same SIM card.

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Bharti & Alcatel-Lucent in JV

Alcatel-Lucent will hold 74 per cent and Bharti the rest.

Bharti Airtel and Alcatel-Lucent, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of fixed-line phone equipment, announced a joint venture to manage the Indian telecom major’s fixed-line and broadband internet businesses.
Alcatel-Lucent will hold 74 per cent in the venture and Bharti Airtel the remaining equity.
Bharti has also signed a five-year $500 million (about Rs 2,500 crore) managed services deal with the new company for five years.
Apart from managing the broadband and fixed-line network, the joint venture will also install the services in consumer premises and upgrade the network. The joint venture will also offer services such as high-speed internet and video conferencing.
Alcatel Lucent will run the joint venture. The bulk of the 4,000 staffers for the joint venture will come from Bharti Airtel and the rest from Alcatel-Lucent. The joint venture will not, however, entail an asset transfer from Bharti and the subscribers and their revenues will be on Bharti Airtel’s books.
This is the second India deal for Alcatel. Last year, it signed a 70:30 joint venture with Reliance Communications for managed services for CDMA and GSM networks, also a five-year $500 million and for five years.
This is the first joint venture that Bharti has signed for managed services. The telecom company has signed several other multi-million dollar outsourcing contracts with Nokia Siemens, Ericsson and IBM. Explaining the reason for the change Manoj Kohli CEO and joint managing director of Bharti Airtel, said: “Unlike in wireless where you have to just put in a passive network and subscribers can roll in, the broadband business is very different. You have to go to consumer homes, install the equipment, explain how it works and that requires a lot more engagement. We thought for such a business a joint venture would be a more effective structure.”
Kohli added that the deal would help Bharti Airtel save costs but he did not quantify the savings. Bharti has only three million broadband customers and fixed-line customers in 95 cities across India and finds the need to scale up the numbers, if the government's target of 20 million broadband subscribers is to be met by 2010 (India has 6.2 million subscribers).

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