Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced a five-year managed services agreement with Ericsson for managing and optimising Airtel's mobile networks in Africa in order to provide a superior customer experience.
Ericsson will modernise and upgrade Airtel's mobile networks in Africa by deploying superior 2G and HSPA 3G technology to ensure that Airtel's customers have an enhanced voice and data experience. Ericsson's first multi-country managed services deal in Africa will enable Airtel focus on its core operations of innovating and launching new products, services and mobile applications for over 4.4-crore customers across the continent.
According to Bharti Airtel CEO (International) and Joint Managing Director, Manoj Kohli, “Ericsson has been our managed services and network technology partner in Asian operations. Given its expertise and strong track record we are confident that this partnership will be able to efficiently deliver the best networks and services to our customers in Africa. The new generation equipment from Ericsson will help reduce our total cost of ownership of the networks”.
Complex task
Commenting on the deal, Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg said: “This deal will allow us to assist Airtel with the complex task of managing operations in multiple countries. It also provides an opportunity for us to extend our managed services into new, untapped African markets”.
