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Telecommunications Info-Tech - New Business
Mega order: Mr Akhil Gupta (right), Joint Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises, and Mr Bert Nordberg, Executive Vice-President (Sales and Marketing), Ericsson Global, at a press conference in the Capital on Wednesday. —
Our Bureau New Delhi, July 18 In one of the largest telecom deals ever, Bharti Airtel has awarded a $2-billion contract to Swedish major Ericsson for expanding its mobile network across 15 circles. As per the deal announced on Wednesday, Ericsson will manage and supply equipment for mobile infrastructure to Bharti Airtel over a two-year period. This takes Bharti’s declared investments in its telecom networks to nearly $3 billion this year, including a $900-million contract awarded to Nokia Siemens two weeks back. The last major contract between Bharti and Ericsson was signed more than a year ago for $1 billion. “This is the largest contract for Bharti and probably the largest single deal in the Indian telecom sector,” said Mr Akhil Gupta, Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel. The deal will allow Bharti Airtel to expand its reach into rural areas. Under the two-year supply and services contract, Ericsson will design, plan, deploy, optimise and manage Bharti’s GSM cellular network in 15 circles and also intelligent network platform for pre-paid card users across all of Bharti’s 23 circles. Bharti’s share gained 2.3 per cent on the BSE to close at Rs 883. “For Ericsson, this is one of the largest contracts it has won globally,” said Mr Mats Granryd, Managing Director, Ericsson India. Ericsson will supply core network that is third generation-enabled and a mobile packet backbone network for data services. Ericsson has been supplying equipment to Bharti since 1995 and now manages around 70 per cent of its GSM network. The two companies had signed the first network outsourcing deal in the country in 2004; Ericsson was mandated to manage Airtel’s infrastructure. With more than five million new subscribers being added every month by GSM operators, the country’s mobile segment is being seen by most equipment vendors as the fastest growing market. Contracts worth $2 billion have already been signed in just two months. These include a $500-million deal between Idea Cellular and Nokia and a $600-million contract between Reliance Communication and Alcatel-Lucent. Vodafone Essar has lined up investments worth $2 billion this year. The Maxis-controlled Aircel is also looking to ramp up its network. Though the fight for a larger share of contracts has been between Nokia and Ericsson so far, other vendors such as Motorola, Huawei and ZTE are also lining up for share of the pie. Mr Amit Sharma, President, Motorola India, said: “We are pitching in for at least three large projects that are coming up.” He added: “It is seen globally that there is a phase where particular vendors get a larger share of the contract during a period of time. It won’t be long before the momentum shifts towards Motorola.”
Related Stories: More Stories on : Telecommunications | New Business | Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd
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