Huawei, ZTE and Ericsson bag orders from Shyam-Sistema

Chinese telecom vendors Huawei and ZTE and Swedish giant Ericsson have bagged orders from CDMA telecom operator Shyam-Sistema, which offers mobile services under the MTS brand, for rolling out and managing its network in different regions.

The deal size is close to Rs 150 crore, industry sources said, adding that Huawei has been given the eastern region, Ericsson bagged the northern region and the southern region has gone to ZTE.

MTS has chosen telecom technology partners ZTE, Huawei and Ericsson to provide Network Managed Services (NMS) in different telecom circles, which will ensure better network efficiency for its customers, MTS said in a statement.

Some circles, the company said, will be assigned to vendors at a later stage, based on vendor performance and commercial terms, it added.

"We have opted for the NMS model to create a benchmark for our service delivery and benefit our customers. We appreciate the continuous efforts of our existing strategic partners, ZTE and Huawei, and welcome Ericsson on board," SSTL President and CEO Vsevolod Rozanov said.

The companies will manage all of Shyam-Sistema's active network elements and telecom equipment, including staff and passive infrastructure.

SSTL is a joint venture between Russia's Sistema and the Shyam Group of India. While Sistema has a 74 per cent equity stake in the venture, the Shyam Group holds a 23.5 per cent stake. The remaining 2.5 per cent is publicly held.

The company, which holds a pan-India license for providing mobile telephony services, has over six million subscribers in the telecom circles of Kolkata, West Bengal and Sikkim, Rajasthan, Chennai and Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar and Jharkhand, Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa, Delhi and NCR, Haryana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The company's services are operational in 12 circles at present and it expects to start services across the remaining circles by next year. It plans to launch services in UP (east), UP (west) and Gujarat by the end of this calendar year.

Earlier this month, the company announced that the Russian government will pick up a 20 per cent stake for $600 million (Rs 2,793 crore).