Mahindra-British Telecom plans to ramp up headcount

Mahindra-British Telecom (MBT), a joint venture between British Telecom Plc and Mahindra & Mahindra, plans to hire 2,000 professionals this year for its Indian operations. At present, MBT globally has 4,500 employees, with 3,000 in India alone.

Jagdish Mitra, global marketing & corporate communications, said the recruitment would be at all levels and in anticipation from the growth in global as well as Indian business. The company believed that the outsourcing business with respect to telecom companies in India was poised for a significant growth.

He said, there were indications from telecom companies""private and public""that they would follow the Bharti model by adopting outsourcing as a business model. MBT had been approached by some companies, but Mitra refused to divulge any names.

Mitra said, globally, companies had realised that they should focus on their core operations and outsource non-core activities. However, the transformation that would take place in India would happen in steps and the change would not be dramatic.

The different operations that could be outsourced by telecom companies and potential business areas for MBT were billing, customer relationship management (CRM), fraud management, revenue assurance and information security.

MBT's development centres were located in Pune, Mumbai and the UK. However, the company was looking at centres in other locations in India.

Currently, MBT's revenues from Indian businesses accounts for less than 5 per cent but, the company was making a conscious effort to grow it significantly. Revenues from British Telecom (BT) were 70-80 per cent of the company's total revenues.

Mitra pointed out that the share of non-BT revenues would grow over the next few years. The company's long term vision was that while BT revenues would continue to account for a significant share of MBT's revenues, non-BT revenues would increase simultaneously, over three years.