Digital India: ZTEsoft in talks with Indian telcos, system integrators

NEW DELHI: ZTEsoft, the software and IT arm of the Chinese gear maker ZTE Corp, said that the company is in talks with Indian telecom operators and local system integrators to put forth their portfolio for government’s ambitious Digital India program.

“We are coordinating with tier-I operators such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications and Aircel as they have capability and infrastructure to offer services to the government and other industries,” ZTEsoft CEO- International, Ben Zhou told ET.

ZTE’s software arm wants to take telcos as well as local system integrators on board soon so it could be well-suited to offer localized services related to security, transportation, healthcare, education and finance, as a part of overarching Digital India platform.

“Telecom is a part of the digital business. We are seeking system integrators and service providers as they adopt different approaches in various circles, and we need some localized services, and as and when demand comes we can immediately start working with them,” Zhou said.

The ZTEsoft top executive said that the company is offering a ‘Smart Card’ solution which is an integrated citizen card for multiple services in the domain of transportation and finance as well as in medical security.

The software and solutions firm also wanted to leverage their existing global alliances with Indian IT players such as Tech Mahindra, Wipro and TCS for the Smart City initiative, besides eyeing new partners.

The company has offered to invest Rs 500-crore in next five years that include Rs 40-crore worth in a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for the mega Smart City project.

"India is similar to China and we have already worked towards tens of such smart cities. With big data and cloud computing capabilities, we are ready to work with local partners and carriers to give government a perspective on smart city operation," Zhou added.