Bharti Sticks With Ericsson For Managed Services

India's largest operator, Bharti Airtel Ltd., has awarded a multi-vendor, multi-technology managed services deal to Ericsson AB for operating and maintaining about 70 per cent of its network across the country. (See Ericsson Wins Airtel Services Deal.)

The five-year deal, for which financial terms have not been disclosed, will cover 15 circles. In addition to the standard portfolio of managed services, Ericsson will also take responsibility for the Intelligent Network that manages Bharti Airtel's prepaid customer base.

In an earlier interview with Light Reading India, Bharti's Director of Network Services, Jagbir Singh, had stressed the operator's preference for having a single outsourcing partner for managing multiple technologies (2G, 3G and soon LTE). "If I combine all the operations together I can demand my SLAs and KPIs from a single party, he said." (See Jagbir Singh: Director, Network Services Group, Bharti Airtel and Bharti Seeks Single Managed Services Supplier.)

As an existing provider of managed services to Bharti Airtel, Ericsson was always among the frontrunners to win a major deal with the operator. Providing such services to India's mobile operators is among the key focus areas for the vendor's CEO in India, Fredrik Jejdling. (See Ericsson, ZTE Get Aircel's Services Deal.)

The 15 circles (service areas) covered by the Ericsson deal are Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, UP(W), UP(E), Rajasthan, North Eastern states, Assam, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chennai and Kerala. (See A Brief Guide to India's Telecom Market for a map of India's circles.)

This implies that managed services deals for the remaining seven circles are still to be awarded. Managed services suppliers such as Nokia Siemens Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and ZTE Corp. would be the companies looking to work with Bharti Airtel in those circles, but, clearly, Ericsson has got the major chunk of the business.

"This unique multi-technology Managed Services partnership with Ericsson will help us focus on creating a compelling service proposition for our customers, as we look to ramp up our market access for next generation services on 3G and 4G," stated Sanjay Kapoor, CEO-India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel, in a press release.

To meet the managed services needs of its customers, Ericsson had earlier in the year created four regional facilities designed to support 3G and Long Term Evolution Time Division Duplex (LTE TDD) operators. It had set up a Regional Technical Center (RTC) in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi, and is planning three more in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to cater to the four main regions of India. (See Ericsson Preps for India's Services Boom.)

This is the second multi-vendor contract procured by Ericsson, with Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. (MTS India) awarding the first.

Gagandeep Kaur, Editor, Light Reading India