Telecommunications major Bharti Airtel has entered into a five-year deal with mobile software maker Comviva for providing value-added services across Airtel’s operations in 16 African countries.

“By handing over the management of operations to Comviva, we can enhance efficiencies in our operations and bring a closer focus on marketing initiatives that will help drive usage and engagement levels across our customer base,” the Airtel Africa CEO (International) and Joint Managing Director, Mr Manoj Kohli, said.

In addition to managing all the VAS nodes, Comviva will also manage the complexities associated with the emergence of multiple technologies, different standards, myriad applications and content, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The financial details of the deal were, however, not disclosed.

Commenting on the deal, the Comviva CEO, Mr Manoranjan Mohapatra, said: “This is a landmark deal for Comviva, as we will manage all VAS nodes across Airtel operations in 16 countries in Africa.”

Meanwhile, Airtel Africa has also outsourced its core customer service functions, including call centres and back office operations, to IBM, Tech Mahindra and Spanco.

In September, 2010, the company also selected IBM to manage its IT systems to power the mobile communications network across the continent, the statement added.