Sistema Shyam Tele in talks with Aegis BPO, HCL for contracts

NEW DELHI: Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), a joint venture between Russia's Sistema and the Shyam Group, which offers mobile telephony services in four telecom circles in the country, is in talks with Essar-promoted Aegis BPO and HCL Technologies for multi-year BPO contracts for an undisclosed amount.

One of the recent entrants in the Indian telecom market, SSTL offers CDMA-technology based telephony services in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Kolkata and Rajasthan under the brand name MTS. Currently it has total subscriber base of 9.2 lakh.

"We will manage a sizable part of their business, although I cannot reveal financial details as of now. The contract will be for about 5 years," Aegis, MD & global CEO, Aparupa Sengupta said. An email sent to HCL Technologies remained unanswered.

SSTL has licence and spectrum to operate in all the 22 telecom circles across the country. The company is expected to launch services in West Bengal and Bihar circles soon, SSTL president and CEO Vsevolod Rozanov informed. It is planning to launch its services in Delhi by August this year.

The telco has so far invested about $1.2 billion in India for spectrum allocation and other infrastructure out of the total capital expenditure plan of $5.5 billion. Sistema Shyam plans to have a pan-India presence by the middle of next year.