Ericsson has been Airtel’s managed service partner since 2004 and currently manages the telco’s pan-India 2G, 3G, 4G/LTE, intelligent network and LAN/WAN.
Bharti Airtel has awarded a new deal to Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson to implement voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) calling technology and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).
The move is aimed at strengthening Airtel’s VoLTE service capability in the country and to better take on Reliance Jio, which was the first telco to offer pan-India VoLTE service since its launch in 2016.
The new deployment is Ericsson’s first ever win in India for VoLTE service. Nokia has been the sole provider of VoLTE technology to Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, and Bharti Airtel.
Massive VoLTE deployment by Airtel
Airtel is offering its VoLTE service across 22 circles in India. The company’s chief technology officer (CTO) Randeep Sekhon confirmed the development to Economic Times. The contract value couldn’t be ascertained.
Sekhon further said that the deployment is in the initial phase. He, however, didn’t share a timeframe for the commercial availability of VoLTE using Ericsson’s solution.
Ericsson has been Airtel’s managed service partner since 2004 and currently manages the telco’s pan-India 2G, 3G, 4G/LTE, intelligent network and LAN/WAN.
Earlier this year, both companies extended their partnership with an artificial intelligence and automation deal. Ericsson is now helping Airtel to address network complexity and boost user experience.
The companies are also expanding their co-creation partnership to industrialize AI use cases after completing the proof of concept trials.
