Ericsson wins billion-dollar services deal from India’s Reliance

NEW DELHI (dpa) – Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson AB on Monday won a one-billion-dollar services contract from India’s Reliance Communications Ltd to operate its wired and wireless networks in northern and western India for the next eight year.

Up to 5,000 employees from Reliance, the country’s third-largest mobile phone company, will move to Ericsson as part of the deal.

Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg arrives for a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden on February 1 2008. Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson AB on Monday won a 1-billion-dollar services contract from India’s Reliance Communications Ltd to operate its wired and wireless networks in northern and western India for the next eight year. EPA

As well as operate and maintain the network, Ericsson will modernise Reliance’s tools and processes to improve its efficiency, and identify opportunities for new services, the companies said in a joint statement.

Last month, Reliance gave France-based telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA an eight-year contract worth one billion dollars to manage its mobile and fixed networks in south and east India.

India is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing mobile phone markets, with nearly 900 million subscribers. Reliance has 130 million customers.