E-Paper
IBM inks Rs 350-cr deal with Digicable
The New York-based IT major IBM inked an outsourcing agreement with the cable and broadband distribution company Digicable Network for ten years.
The New York-based IT major IBM inked an outsourcing agreement with the cable and broadband distribution company Digicable Network for ten years. IBM pipped domestic IT companies Wipro and TCS to bag the deal. The initial outlay of the deal is valued at Rs 350 crore.
“The size of the deal will subsequently be increased with expansion of Digicable’s business in the country,” said KS Raghunandan, director solutions & business development South Asia IBM.
IBM will support the integration and delivery of the digital media content by Digicable and help it in launching value-added services like video-on-demand and cable radio, interactive TV and Internet services on TV, among others.
The Mumbai-based Digicable, boasts of 8 million subscribers in the country and operates across 125 cities and 14 states.
“The present DTH operators allow only one way communication but with the support of IBM we will soon provide two-way communication wherein the subscribers can send and receive messages for our value added services,” said Jagjit Singh Kohli, MD and CEO Digicable Network.
The media & entertainment has emerged as an important vertical for IT companies. IBM mops up close to $2 billion (Rs 9,300 crore) from this segment globally. “This is a very important vertical for the growth,” quipped Raghunandan. He, however, did not divulge the corresponding figures for the Indian market. “The recent big ticket deals have all come from media & entertainment verticals.”
IBM has BBC, CNN, Sun Direct, Washington Post, Discovery, New York Times, The British Film Institute, among others as its media & entertainment clients.
