According to an official announcement, the expansion is in line with Bharti Airtel‘s objective to offer world-class and cost effective telecom products and services to its customers through a state of the art, converged network across the country.

The deal which is one‘s Ericsson‘s largest deals to date is expected to allow Bharti Airtel to expand its reach into rural areas thereby further consolidating its leadership position, states an official release.

Under the two-year supply and services contract, Ericsson is expected to design, plan, deploy, optimize and manage Bharti Airtel‘s GSM network across 15 circles in India as well as for its pan-India prepaid (IN) platform across 23 circles.

In addition, Ericsson will also deliver pan-India integrated device management solutions, enabling usage of advanced data services by all mobile customers across retail and enterprise segments.

Bharti Airtel president and CEO Manoj Kohli says, "Our partnership with Ericsson is testament to this belief as it allows us to focus on delivering a better customer experience leveraging Ericsson‘s global expertise to enhance our networks. The state of the art network will further allow us to offer more innovative products and solutions in the areas of voice and data like community based charging, location based services and enterprise VPN services. Bharti and Ericsson is also looking at forming a focus group to work on energy optimization by way of introducing energy efficient equipments and alternate energy sources," he added.

Ericsson India managing director Mats Granryd says, "We are honored that Bharti Airtel has chosen to partner with us in this grand venture that underpins our strategy of providing communications for all through sustainable and innovative solutions."

Ericsson has been a strategic partner of Bharti Airtel since 1995, and manages around 70 percent of its GSM/EDGE network in 15 circles in India. Its nationwide charging solution (IN) caters to Airtel customers across all the 23 circles of Airtel Bharti.