Ericsson to partner Bharti Airtel in 4G network

Swedish communications technology company Ericsson said Tuesday announced it has signed a deal to partner Bharti Airtel to offer 4G network technology that is in its infancy in India.

"Airtel has selected Ericsson to be its partner in offering LTE (Long-Term Evolution, also marketed as 4G LTE) in India," Chris Houghton, head of Ericsson Region India, said here at a company-organised event to launch the product solution.

LTE, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals.

Bharti Airtel and Aircel have launched 4G services in a few cities on the 2300 Mhz band (TDD-LTE standard), while Reliance Jio Infocomm, the only company with a pan-India license, has not yet launched its services.

The Aditya Birla Group's Idea Cellular has inked a solutions data charging deal for Ericsson's Evolved IP Network (EIN) that delivers subscriber broadband services, such as triple-play, 2G, 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi over a unified IP transport.

Airtel, Jio, Vodafone India and Idea were among the companies that, in auctions held in February, won spectrum in the 1800 Mhz band, which can also be used for 4G.