Liberty Global signs $1.5 billion IT deal with Infosys

A whopping $1.5 billion contract will see Indian tech giant Infosys will take over build and operations of operator group Liberty Global’s Horizon entertainment and connectivity platforms.

Infosys will provide services to Liberty Global with an estimated price tag of €1.5 billion over the initial 5 year term and at €2.3 billion if the contract is extended to 8 years.

It represents an expansion of an existing deal which was set up in 2020 to support Liberty Global’s technology services platforms, and will now include the deployment of Infosys Topaz AI offering and a ‘highly scalable development engine for new features and capabilities.’

The collaboration will allow Liberty Global to make run-rate savings in excess of €100 million per year, we’re told in the release, and will also involve it licensing the Horizon entertainment and connectivity platforms to Infosys who can offer it to ‘operators and new markets outside the Liberty Global family.’ Liberty Global will continue to control product roadmaps and retain all intellectual property.

The deal will, rather unusually, also involve a transfer of labour – around 400 senior executives and technology teams from Liberty Global’s Product, Technology Development Service Delivery Group, Network & Shared Operations and Security Groups will now join to Infosys, presumably to help run the licensed platforms.

“Strengthening and expanding our collaboration with Infosys gives our best-in-class solutions new scale with the ability to reach many more markets and bring positive experiences to more customers,” said Mike Fries, CEO, Liberty Global. “And while it produces substantial central cost savings over time, it also provides excellent opportunities for our talent to grow their specialist skills and nurture impactful careers with Infosys. We look forward to working together to accelerate innovation and make our entertainment solutions even more powerful and engaging as new generations of digital-first customers continue to demand more from us all.”

Salil Parekh, CEO and MD, Infosys, added: “We are excited to bring Infosys Topaz to enable transformative AI-first capabilities to complement the cloud-first digital foundation we have laid for Liberty Global using Infosys Cobalt. This will unveil a new chapter in our joint journey of innovation as we reimagine entertainment and the connectivity experience for millions of global consumers. The strength of our global operations will also help the business scale across markets. As we prepare to welcome new talent and teams of innovators to Infosys, we look forward to building on the trust that Liberty Global has in us.”

Liberty Global has not been shy to get its wallet out of late – last month it shared details of the outcome of the takeover bid for Belgian operator Telenet for around €763 million.

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