Swedish telecoms equipment vendor Ericsson has won a multi-year, multi-billion US dollar extension deal from giant Indian telco Bharti Airtel for 4G and 5G RAN products and solutions.
Under the new contract, Ericsson will deploy centralised RAN and Open RAN-ready solutions for network transformation and will also implement a software upgrade of its current deployed 4G radios.
Airtel is a global telecommunications provider and, although headquartered in India, boasts 550 million customers in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa.
In India Airtel has 352 million mobile accounts, services 7.6 million homes and provides 16.1 million digital TV services.
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Ericsson has been a longstanding telecoms provider for Airtel, supporting every generation of mobile communications and the new contract is an extension of the existing relationship between the two companies.
"The strategic partnership with Ericsson to deploy the latest technology is a testament to Airtel's pursuit of network excellence," Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel, said.
"This deployment will enable us to further improve the speed, reliability, and coverage of our network, ensuring an exceptional experience for our customers.”
Andres Vicente, Head of Ericsson South-east Asia, Oceania and India said the partnership extension reflects a shared vision to build a robust 4G and 5G infrastructure for Bharti Airtel to serve the connectivity needs of its customer base – including the new 5G use cases as they emerge.
"We will work closely with Bharti Airtel to deliver great user experiences for their customers,” Vicente said.