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Aircel is hoping a deal with Infobip will spur renewed interest in its messaging services.
Aircel has awarded a contract to messaging and mobile services provider Infobip to manage its application-to-person (A2P) platform.
"We have signed a two-year contract with Aircel which involves setting up the platform as well as management of the same," says Matija Ramez, the vice president of operations at Infobip. "We started working with Aircel in July 2015. We are transmitting between 100 to 200 million messages every day."
Ramez would not disclose the value of the contract with India's fifth-largest telco, which is using Infobip's A2P SMS Business-as-a-Service product.
According to Infobip, this offers substantial cost savings to the operator. "We would be managing end-to-end operations, right from managing customers to offering technical assistance," says Ramez. "We are also part of billing. Infobip is also involved in sales and promotion of the product. This model is a win-win situation for Aircel Ltd. as without investing much the telco has ensured smooth running of this business."
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A2P has emerged as an important authentication tool for brand building, public services, banking-related authentication and other businesses in India. It could also help to sustain interest in SMS messaging, which has come under threat from web services such as WhatsApp. Indeed, Infobip reckons use of A2P messaging is growing at 20% annually.
Aircel is currently in merger talks with Reliance Communications Ltd. , however, and it remains unclear how this deal could affect its relationship with Infobip. "We are confident of our product and hope to be a part of the bigger telco if and whenever this deal comes through," says Ramez. (See RJio & RCom Enter Spectrum-Sharing Pact .)
Infobip currently has Indian offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune, where it is planning to open a development center in the next two to three months.
– Gagandeep Kaur, contributing editor, special to Light Reading
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