Bharti Airtel and Ericsson have strengthened their long-standing alliance with a new collaboration to implement Ericsson’s secure, high-performance 5G Core network capabilities for the benefit of Airtel’s millions of customers and organisations in India.
The partnership will allow Airtel to gradually move to a commercially live, full-scale 5G Standalone network, offering the advanced capabilities of 5G to their consumers.
Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel, says: “Ericsson’s enduring partnership with Airtel has entered an exciting new phase, marked by the deployment of Ericsson’s 5G Core solutions to support Airtel’s transition to 5G Standalone. This rollout will play a pivotal role in Airtel’s long-term 5G strategy, boosting network capacity and enabling the delivery of innovative, differentiated services to customers.”
Andres Vicente, Head of Market Area Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson, says: “As a global 5G leader, Ericsson is committed to providing Bharti Airtel its latest technology solutions. This deployment is a significant step towards making Bharti Airtel’s network 5G Standalone ready and future proof. Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G core enables monetization through network slicing-based services and network API exposure, unleashing new, innovative use cases for consumers and enterprises.”
As part of this arrangement, Ericsson will install its Signalling Controller solution across Bharti Airtel’s network. Furthermore, Ericsson’s 5G Standalone Charging and Policy solution will be presented. These new capabilities are a strategic boost to Bharti Airtel’s 5G monetisation initiatives, allowing for the development of new business models.
Ericsson has been a long-term connectivity partner of Bharti Airtel for over 25 years, encompassing every generation of mobile communications, including the award of Bharti Airtel’s first 5G contract in India.