Indian operator Bharti Airtel has inked contracts with IBM, Tech Mahindra and Spanco to outsource its customer service operations across 16 African countries. Bharti Airtel, which has over 40 million customers under the Zain brand in Africa, will outsource core customer service functions like call centres and back office. The mobile operator said the widespread adoption of the BPO model across its operations will also have tangible benefits for the development of the sector in each country, create additional job opportunities and develop local talent. This is the second major partnership announcement from Bharti Airtel on the African subcontinent. In September this year Bharti selected IBM to build and manage IT systems to power the mobile network across Africa. Currently over 4,000 people are employed in Africa supporting Bharti Airtel's customer service operations. Going forward the number of people employed in managing Bharti Airtel's customer service functions will increase as Bharti Airtel expands its network and customer base.
