India’s largest private sector telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, is set to diversify into the information technology business. The company plans to offer software applications on a pay-per-use model to small and medium businesses (SMBs) and enterprises.

The teleco believes, the market has huge potential, as SMBs have still not adopted IT completely. "We are already in talks with global software vendors like Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, Jamcracker and Google to offer different applications on a software-as-a-service (Saas) or pay-per-use model, Jai Menon, group chief information officer of Bharti Enterprises told Business Line. "SMBs are yet to adopt IT for transformation and we see a huge potential,” he added.

Menon said the company had been planning to get into the IT business for over two years, and would start offering Saas in a quarter or two. The company is investing in upgrading its network infrastructure and expanding data centres to power its IT initiatives.

Airtel plans to provide IT applications without being a systems integrator. The company believes that with improving connectivity and awareness, Saas as a software delivery model is gaining momentum in India. X