Bharti Airtel has invited bids to outsource the management of its 120,000 km long intercity optic fibre cable network. The fiveyear contract is estimated to be worth about $1 billion and is slated to be finalised before March 2011. Bharti will form a joint venture with the successful bidder to carry out operations.
Bharti operates an optic fibre cable network of over 100,000 route km. The operator is also looking to renew its multi-billion network outsourcing contracts with Ericsson and NSN in 2010.
Meanwhile, BSNL, which has the largest fibre network in India, comprising about 600,000 route km, is also planning to invite bids from segment players in February 2010 to outsource the management of its network.
