India's leading telecom service provider Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced that it has selected Swedish telecom company Ericsson to roll out 4G (lTE-FDD) network for its subscribers in Delhi.
The four-year agreement between the two companies marks the first lTE-FDD roll out by Ericsson in Delhi. Bharti Airtel has also strengthened its partnership with Ericsson by signing a four-year agreement to expand 3G WCDMA network across 8 telecom circles in India.
Speaking at the announcement, Bharti Airtel CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Abhay Savargaonkar said, "As market leaders, we at Airtel are deeply committed towards delivering the best data experience of the customer. We are delighted to partner with Ericsson to offer a world-class 4G experience for our customers in Delhi."
At its flagship technology event Ericsson Connect, here in Delhi, Ericsson also released its next major software-Ericsson Networks Software 16A, which will feature a new suite of lTE software upgrades targeting the indoor space.
The new suite features advances in uplink and downlink performance - boosting network uplink speeds by up to 200 per cent, downlink speeds by up to 30 per cent and adding lTE unlicensed, the first commercial step in licensed Assisted Access Device.
The company's President and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Hans Vestberg also launched Ericsson Radio System in India - a new approach on the road to 5G as well as Ericsson HDS 8000, a hyper-scale upgrade to Ericsson Cloud System that adds new software and hardware to ensure a secure cloud experience.