Voda Idea in 5-year IT deal with IBM

The company did not divulge the size of the deal but some reports pegged it at about $700 million.

“The collaboration will provide Vodafone Idea with a hybrid cloud based digital platform to enable more intimate engagement with its over 387 million subscribers (as of December 31, 2018), enhancing business efficiency, agility and scale plus simplification of its business processes,” it said.

The new infrastructure platform will remove constraints to exponential growth of data usage driven by increasing consumption of video, streaming and digital commerce, the statement said, adding that it will also drive enhanced customer experience to millions of connected consumers and businesses in India. “Vodafone Idea is collaborating with leading global technology partners including IBM to deploy new age technologies with built-in customisations and novel innovations. We believe use of IBM’s hybrid and multi-cloud, analytics and AI security capabilities will accelerate Vodafone Idea’s progression to an open, agile and secure IT environment,” it said. The deal will also provide a platform for fast-track joint initiatives in AI and IoT.