IT services major HCLTech on Thursday said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the telco solutions business of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) for a cash consideration of up to $160 million, including $15 million of performance-linked incentives based on FY25. The acquisition is aimed at strengthening HCLTech’s engineering and AI-led network offerings for global communication service providers (CSPs).
IP and R&D Integration
The telco solutions business was part of HPE’s Communications Technology Group (CTG), from which HCLTech had acquired certain assets in 2024. With the latest agreement, HCLTech will add industry intellectual property, product engineering and R&D capabilities, along with relationships with leading global CSPs.
The telco solutions business supports more than one billion devices across over 200 deployments worldwide and enables capabilities such as operations support systems, home subscriber server and 5G subscriber data management, along with AI-led closed-loop network automation.
“HCLTech is uniquely positioned to empower CSPs to realise their transformation into true technology companies—advancing the shift from telcos to techcos,” said Anil Ganjoo, chief growth officer and global head of telecom, media, publishing & entertainment and technology (TMT) at HCLTech, in a release.
As part of the transaction, nearly 1,500 engineering and telecom specialists across 39 countries will join HCLTech’s global delivery team. The acquisition is structured as an asset carve-out and does not involve the purchase of shares. The entire consideration will be paid in cash.
Global Workforce Expansion
HCLTech said it will leverage the expanded engineering talent and acquired intellectual property to accelerate 5G network transformation, network cloudification, network-as-a-service, autonomous networking, service management and orchestration, AI-led network automation and AI-native networks for global CSPs.
“HCLTech has a compelling vision for enabling CSPs that will harness the telco solutions business’s momentum and track record of customer success to further accelerate innovation and customer impact,” said Rami Rahim, executive vice president, president and general manager, networking, HPE.
Shares of HCL Technologies ended at ₹1,663 on the NSE, up 0.48%. The acquisition was announced after market hours.