Sparsh BPO Services, the domestic BPO subsidiary of Intelenet Global Services (Intelenet), inaugurated it`s new delivery centre in Puducherry as part of a strategic deal with Aircel, a leading mobile services operator in India, to provide customer support services for Aircel`s operations in Tamilnadu and Chennai circles. The delivery centre in Puducherry will service Aircel`s base of prepaid and postpaid cellular subscribers in the Tamilnadu circle.

Located at Kurumbapet in Puducherry, the facility is designed in the French colonial style with a capacity of more than 700 seats. With an initial headcount of 1,600, the centre will be the largest BPO employer in the union territory. The centre is scalable to accommodate 2,200 employees.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Puducherry centre, Susir Kumar, chief executive officer, Intelenet Global Services said, ``We are delighted to partner with Aircel, one of the frontrunners in the telecom industry in India. Puducherry is an emerging outsourcing destination for the IT-BPO sector, and we chose the union territory for its excellent infrastructure and competent talent pool.``

Speaking on the partnership with Sparsh, Gurdeep Singh, chief operating officer, Aircel, said, ``As we expand our business in south India, we needed a partner with core strengths in the domestic telecom industry, and Sparsh as the leading domestic BPO player was the obvious choice. The scalability and service quality offered by this partnership will help Aircel drive its agenda to becoming a full-fledged national operator by 2009. ``

Shares of Sparsh BPO (Q, N,C,F)* Services gained Rs 1, or 4.88% to settle at Rs 21.50. The total volume of shares traded was 722 at the BSE. (Wednesday)