Etisalat DB Telecom India is on the verge of signing a deal with Indian IT-outsourcing giant Wipro Technologies. UAE-based Etisalat has a 45% stake in the JV between Mumbai headquartered Dynamix Balwas Group and Etisalat. The telecoms firm has the license to offer services to 15 circles in the country, and had recently received clearance for staring services to another 13 circles.

Telecom firms like Etisalat DB are seeking to outsource their IT infrastructures as more and more of them are making a shift to focusing solely on core competencies. =

In earlier deals, Aircel Cellular awarded a $600 million deal to Wipro in January 2008. Meanwhile, Idea Cellular, which is an Aditya Birla group inked a 10-year IT outsourcing agreement with IBM. This deal was valued at $600 - $800 million. In 2007, Vodafone-Essar, a hugely popular telecoms operator in India, outsourced its IT segment to IBM in a five-year contract. The financial conditions of this deal were not revealed, but so far IBM seems to have taken the largest chunk of the pie as far as telecoms contracts are concerned. IBM has deals with Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, and Idea Cellular.

But that could change with Wipro poised to close a deal with Etisalat DB for $31 million. Should the deal go through, it would represent the second biggest contract for Wipro in the telecommunications industry. In April, the IT major won a $ 518 million contract from a new telecom operator, Unitech Wireless. If the deal closes, Wipro will edge out 7 other IT vendors including top outsourcing firms Tech Mahindra and IBM.

Under the agreement, Etisalat DB is expected to hand over management of IT services and infrastructure to Wipro - this should include establishment of servers, computers, software needed for billing, customer care, enterprise resource planning, and other aspects of IT services.

A source close to the deal said, “The companies are finalizing the deal, and would announce it within a month’s time,” reports Business Standard.

Nonetheless, the length of the contract was not disclosed. Both Wipro and Etisalat DB declined to comment on the matter.