Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa on Monday expanded its managed services agreement with Ericsson for its India operations.

The 15 telecom Circles under the scope of the partnership include, 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.

Under this new five-year multi-vendor, multi technology managed services agreement Ericsson will operate, maintain and provide services across 70 percent of BhartiAirtel’s network in India. 

The initiative is in line with Airtel’s commitment to ushering in the next level of user experience on wireless communications. Bharti Airtel will expand and extend contract across 15 circles for 5 years.

“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”, said Sanjay Kapoor, CEO-India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel.

Fredrik Jejdling, Head of Ericsson India, said, “The rapid increase in customer numbers, and the network complexities due to multiple technology overlays defines the need for a renewed focus on differentiated user experience. As more and more people are joining the Networked Society, in which everybody and everything is connected it is imperative that we continue to provide high-quality, innovative services to the end users”.

Ericsson will also ensure effective management of operational expenditure and maximize efficiencies of scale whilst undertaking to improve the overall quality of the network in these Circles.

The full suite of managed services will be rendered through a state of the art Global Network Operation Center and field operation activities spread throughout the country. The evolved managed services now incorporate the cutting-edge tools that Ericsson gained from its recent acquisitions of Optimi and Telcordia.