Wifi Revolution

The Ericsson (News - Alert) juggernaut continues to roll across Asia in August—and the deals are getting bigger and better by the day. Today the company announced that it has bagged a contract worth an estimated $1 billion to expand and upgrade the telecom network for India's Bharti Airtel.

 

Also this month itself, Ericsson announced the signing of major deals in China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand. But the contract in India tops them all.

 

The company has signed a three year agreement to manage design, development and deployment of Bharti's network, including capacity and coverage, Ericsson said in its announcement.

 

The company also agreed to upgrade Bharti's network with its mobile softswitch system, allowing the Indian mobile operator to move toward a low-cost Internet Protocol (IP) platform.

 

The deal will enable Bharti to rapidly extend its GSM coverage in the country and increase its network capacity, the statement claimed.

 

The Swedish telecom equipment maker already manages more than 70 percent of Bharti’s GSM/GPRS network in 15 regions across India.

 

Mats Granryd, managing director at Ericsson India, said in a statement: “Rollout speed plays an extremely important role in large expansions of this nature and Ericsson has demonstrated expertise in this area.”

 

Granyrd continued: “We are honored and pleased that Bharti Airtel has chosen us as a partner to expand its coverage across India, particularly in the untapped rural areas.”

Manoj Kohli, president of Bharti Airtel, added that the partnership with Ericsson allows the company to focus on its top priority: delivering better customer experiences.

 

Bharti Airtel is a leading private sector provider of telecommunications services in India with a customer base of 25.89 million as of July-end 2006, including 24.34 million mobile customers.

Earlier this week, Ericsson said it had been selected by Thailand's fixed-line operator TOT Public Company Limited (TOT) solution to provide high performance broadband services to subscribers across the country.

 

Under the agreement, Ericsson will provide TOT with a comprehensive portfolio of services, which includes supply, delivery, installation, integration, staff training, testing and commissioning of Ericsson's IP-MSAN for ADSL2+ (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line). 

 

Last week, Ericsson signed a deal with MiTV Corporation to build, manage and maintain a WCDMA/HSPA telecom network across Malaysia . Under the agreement, Ericsson will provide MiTV with a WCDMA core and radio network, including HSPA, microwave transmission, multimedia solutions and related services.

 

In China, Ericsson has bagged contracts worth $550 million with China Mobile during the first half of 2006.

 

Under the contracts, Ericsson will provide China Mobile with core and radio networks, together with related technical support and services. It will also deploy its Mobile Softswitch Solution in the contracted regions.

 

In Indonesia, the company has signed a deal this month with the country's largest cellular phone operator Telkomsel to provide a 3G/WCDMA network. 

 

Under a three-year agreement signed with Telkomsel, Ericsson will deliver a 3G/WCDMA radio and core network, including HSPA, with deployment beginning immediately. The contract also includes three years of managed services, with Ericsson providing a comprehensive services offering including establishing, operating and managing the operations of Telkomsel's 3G network.

 

A Bangladesh contract, also effected this month, covers the operation, management and maintenance of Warid Telecom's core GSM/network, backbone transmission and real-time charging/Value Added Services (VAS).

 

This agreement is an extension to the contract signed earlier this year where Ericsson was chosen by Warid Telecom to supply and implement the complete core and backbone transmission equipment for its nationwide GSM/GPRS network.

 

Ericsson will now also manage Warid Telecom's radio network in the western part of the country, covering the areas of Rajshahi, Khulna, and Barisal.

 

Back to WiFi Revolution home