Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel on Tuesday renewed its agreement with Sweden-based equipment maker Ericsson to provide network, IT automation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven managed services across the country for the telco. The firm, headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal, has a total user-base of 327.75 million in India.
The deal is to last three years, during which Airtel is also planning to launch the “Ericsson Operation Engine” as a managed network solution.
"We are confident these new technologies will enable us to serve the emerging data requirements of customers in a digitally connected India", media reports quoted Randeep Sekhon, chief technology officer, Bharti Airtel, as saying.
In addition, the Swedish equipment-maker will provide other services like network optimisation and multi-vendor network combing to Airtel’s network pan-India.
The agreement builds on the 25-year collaboration between Ericsson and Airtel in India.
Following the existing standoff and violent clash on the intervening night of 15-16 June between the Indian and Chinese armies in the Ladakh region, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking stringent steps to further ensure that India becomes “self-reliant” in all respects.