Bharti Airtel inks USD 1 billion network expansion contract with Ericsson

Bharti Airtel Ltd on August 24, 2006 has announced the signing of an estimated USD 1 billion network expansion contract with Ericsson. The contract will enable the Company to rapidly expand its mobile services footprint further and reach out to all towns and cities in 15 telecom circles in the country. The three year service contract with Ericsson is towards the design, planning, supply and installation commissioning of Airtel networks in these circles.

Ericsson will also upgrade the network with mobile softswitch (Media Gateway and MSC Servers), the solution that paves the way to an all-IP network. The Company will be able to reduce the operational costs and introduce new services in a cost-efficient way.

The scope of the agreement extends to 15 Airtel circles of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, UP (West), Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, UP (East), Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East.

Mr. Manoj Kohli, President, of the Company said, "At Bharti, it has been our endeavor to find innovative business models to deliver better customer experience. Our partnership with Ericsson is testament to this belief as it allows us to focus on delivering better customer experience even as we leverage the world class expertise of our partners to roll out our networks across all census towns by March 2007. In addition, we are also sourcing next generation products that will allow us to deliver innovative products & services to our customers."

This partnership will enable Airtel to channel its resources and expertise to its core areas of product innovation, value added services, marketing, branding & pricing, while simultaneously providing world class mobile services by leveraging Ericsson’s world class expertise in network management.

Source : Equity Bulls

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