Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecom services provider has chosen Ericsson to roll out a 4G (LTE-FDD) network in Delhi. This four-year agreement marks the first LTE-FDD rollout by Ericsson in Delhi. As part of the contract, Ericsson will provide its multi-standard radio equipment from the Ericsson RBS 6000 base station family for macro and small cell networks. The agreement also includes deployment of Ericsson’s LTE RAN software for Bharti Airtel. The solution works seamlessly with the existing 2G and 3G networks deployed by Ericsson. In addition to Delhi, Ericsson has also partnered Bharti Airtel to deploy LTE networks in 4 other circles.
Abhay Savargaonkar, CTO, Bharti Airtel, says: “The Delhi market is currently experiencing a rapid increase in the uptake of data-centric services. As market leaders, we at Airtel are deeply committed towards delivering the best data experience for
smartphone users and have made investment in high speed 4G network to improve the data experience of the customer. We are delighted to partner with Ericsson to offer a world-class 4G experience for our customers in Delhi.”
In addition, Bharti Airtel awarded a four-year agreement to Ericsson to expand 3G WCDMA network across eight telecom circles in India. The new agreement includes rollout of 3G services in both UMTS 2100 MHZ and UMTS 900MHz band (in three circles). As part of the contract, Ericsson will supply, install and perform managed services for WCDMA Radio Access Networks (RAN). Ericsson will provide its multi-standard radio equipment from the Ericsson RBS 6000 base station family for macro and small cells. This will enable energy-efficient and cost-effective operations while allowing the operator to meet growing demands of better and faster mobile internet connectivity for the end-users.
