Operator group Vodafone has called on Swedish vendor Ericsson to help it carry out its Project Spring organic investment programme. The two firms have signed a five-year deal for the Swedish vendor to provide products and services to further enhance the Vodafone network quality as part of the £7bn project.

Ericsson will provide the group with its full RBS 6000 portfolio and its Antenna Integrated Radio (AIR) product. In addition, the vendor’s service professionals will take on the responsibility for planning, end-to-end network rollout, tuning and optimisation of Vodafone’s 2G, 3G and LTE networks.

“We have been a trusted partner of Vodafone for 30 years and we are delighted to continue and expand our relationship with this latest award under Project Spring,” said Hans Vestberg, president and CEO at Ericsson.

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The vendor also announced a similar deal with Thai operator Real Future at Mobile World Congress. Ericsson will supply Real Future with its RBS 6000 family of radio base stations and services including project management, system integration, interoperability testing, network design and implementation, as well as competence development of personnel.

“This further strengthens our mobile broadband leadership as the first to launch 4G/LTE in Thailand,” said Vichaow Rakphongphairoj, MD and COO at Real Future’s parent firm True Corporation. “It means more exciting opportunities for businesses, as well as new services for subscribers.”