AIRTEL PARTNERS WITH NOVATIUM TO  EXPAND BROADBAND BUSINESS
Chennai
  Financial  Chronicle Mail Today  
 Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel today entered  into a partnership with cloud computing service provider Novatium to expand its  broadband business in India. 
Under the tie-up, Novatium would offer  cloud computing - internet-based computing services - Airtel Net PC, for Airtel  broadband customers in India, Bharti Airtel Telemedia Services-CMO Vikas Singh  told reporters here. Singh said they would launch the service in 11 cities  (starting from Chennai) over the next six months.
    
 INDIAN COMPANIES M&A DEALS TOUCH $1.7 BN IN  APRIL
New Delhi
  Financial  Chronicle    
 Indian companies’ merger and acquisition deal  activity stood at $1.74 billion in April taking the total M&A kitty so far  this year to $21 billion. According to the monthly deal report of VCCEdge, the  financial research platform of VCCircle.com, the M&A deal value during April  stood at $1.74 billion rose 57% over the same period last year. The deal count  also witnessed an upward trend and increased to 49 in April compared to 28 in  the year-ago period. 
The month of April saw as many as 25 domestic deals  worth $815 million, compared to 13 deals worth $603 million in the year-ago  period, the report said. Besides, the number of outbound deals more than doubled  from eight in April 2009 to 18 this year, the number of inbound deals although  remained almost unchanged with five deals in April this year as against seven  deals witnessed last year during the same time. 
In terms of deal volume,  the most active sector was information technology, which cornered 10 deals  followed by consumer goods maker and manufacturing with eight deals each in  April 2010.
   
  HCL TECH TIES UP WITH STELLAR ASIA  
New Delhi
  Business Standard  The Telegraph  
 HCL Tech and Stellar Asia Pacific on Wednesday  announced a strategic partnership to expand business in Australia and  Asia-Pacific markets. The alliance — aimed at providing customers with business  services outsourcing proposition — will leverage HCL's back-office and  technology product capabilities and Stellar's customer relationship management  services, a company release said. 
With a focus on managing customer  relationships, Stellar's current offerings range from front office services  (such as customer service support and directory assistance) to automated  back-office support services and solutions. As part of the alliance, the two  would target specific industry segments such as banking and financial services,  telecommunications, manufacturing, utilities services, retail and  media.