Reliance Communications (RCom), the country’s fourth-largest telecom operator by subscribers, has shortlisted three companies for outsourcing its call centre operations under a ₹1,200-1,300-crore deal. The operator is expected to announce the winner by the end of this month.

New York-headquartered IBM, Indian IT major Wipro and London-headquartered Vertex are the frontrunners for the outsourcing deal, under which the company intends to outsource its call centre operations, a source close to the development said.

Under the outsourcing contract, the telecom operator, which straddles both CDMA and GSM services, would outsource its call centre operations to a BPO firm.

RCom would also transfer its 3,500 employees to the winner of the contract in the first phase.

These would transition to the roles of the vendor (winner) within 30-45 days.

When contacted Wipro declined to comment, citing that the company doesn’t comment on deals that is bidding for. IBM and Vertex could not be immediately reached for comments.

An RCom spokesperson also declined to comment, while the sources declined to be identified before a formal announcement. Under the second phase of the contract, RCom also intends to outsource its entire shared services function that includes security, administration and billing among others. This will result in the operator transferring another 1,800-2,000 employees to the vendor.

The company is also in discussions for a technological upgradation contract worth ₹500 crore. However, the names of the bidders could not be immediately ascertained.

RCom expects gains of ₹300 crore per year, if it succeeds in outsourcing call centre and shared service operations.