Bharti Airtel has signed up about 100 companies to support its Service Development Platform (SDP), developed with IBM with a joint investment of $100 million.

The SDP, which took two years to be built, is now operational, and is claimed to be the first of its kind.

The companies that have been roped in include Infosys, Indiagames, Mobile2Win, Versa, Symbiotic, Pyro, Hungama, On Mobile and many others. They will develop and offer content and applications-related services to Airtel customers across its mobile, landline, broadband and the newly launched DTH services.

Bharti Airtel director of technology and customer service Jai Menon told ET  that his company expects to sign up more than 1,000 companies from India and abroad by 2012 as SDP partners. The company has also appointed IT major Infosys to develop and offer interactive services for the its  its ambitious DTH services.

Last month, on the venture capital (VC) front, Bharti Airtel announced a $44 million (Rs 200 crore) venture funding through its "Airtel innovation fund". The company expects the fund to boost the areas of content and technology in the telecom space.

Bharti Airtel chairman and managing director, Sunil Mittal, said that  the fund will benefit entrepreneurs in a big way. X