Bangalore, Aug 6: BPL Ltd has hived off its information technology business to another group company, BPL Telecom. Earlier, the IT business was under the corporate information system division (CISD) of BPL Ltd.

CISD vice-president U Ghosh said, ``The information technology business of the group will now be under BPL Telecom. Recently, BPL Telecom created an IT business group to focus on its entire infotech business. The CIS division of BPL Ltd will be concentrating on inhouse software applications for group companies.''

The company, after setting up its competence centre, will develop advanced softwares for cellular, mobile and paging services for the domestic market, according to Ghosh. To boost the company's core business in the domestic market, BPL Telecom will enter into a strategic alliance with LHS of Germany for billing and customer-care for cellular services on global system for mobile communication (GSM) basis. ``LHS is a leading player worldwide for its various telecom services including paging and cellular operations,'' he added.

Chairman and managing director Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the BPL Telecom business group had said that the company will explore the various possibilities of linking IT with its telecom business to emerge as a Rs He also said that the company may go in for alliances with Microsoft and Oracle for its proposed foray into the Internet segment.

The highly-integrated telecom business would cash in on opportunities being thrown open in the sector including DTH, satellite communication and long haul transmission network segments, Ghosh said.

The company is also planning to set up a software development centre in Bangalore to cater to the software offshore markets of the US and Europe. For this, BPL Telecom has already started negotiations with a number of major companies in related fields. To start with, the company will go on a recruitment spree. ``We will recruit 50 to 60 people shortly,'' said Ghosh.Japan will be yet another focus country for the company. ``We may enter into a buyback arrangement with Toshiba and Sanyo Electric Co. With this, the company could enhance its customer base rapidly,'' he added.

The company has also decided to shift its US office from Cincinatti to Atlanta for better operations. It is also planning to open additional branches in the US shortly. Recently, it undertook a banking project in Africa.

Currently, the BPL group has a fully-owned subsidiary in the US for monitoring its offshore projects. As the IT business group of BPL Telecom has started its US operations, the subsidiary will become a marketing company.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.