Ericsson wins $2bn mega deal

Swedish vendor Ericsson won itself a $2bn mega deal on Wednesday, after being tapped by Indian operator Bharti Airtel in a network expansion contract.

Under the two year supply and services contract, Ericsson will design, plan, deploy, optimise and manage Bharti’s GSM network across 15 circles in India as well as for its pan-India prepaid platform across 23 circles.

In addition, Ericsson will also deliver integrated device management solutions nationwide, enabling usage of advanced data services by all customers.

Manoj Kohli, president and CEO, Bharti Airtel, said: “The state-of-the-art network will further allow us to offer more innovative products and solutions in the areas of voice and data such as community-based charging, location-based services and enterprise VPN services. Bharti and Ericsson are also looking at forming a focus group to work on energy optimization by way of introducing energy-efficient equipment and alternate energy sources.”