India’s Bharti Airtel partners Ericsson 5G Core technology to drive 5G evolution

New agreement spans packet core, signaling, charging & policy solutions

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — India’s Bharti Airtel and Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) have strengthened their longstanding partnership through a new collaboration to deploy Ericsson’s secure, high-performing 5G Core network offerings to the benefit of Airtel’s millions of customers and enterprises across India.

The collaboration will enable Airtel to seamlessly transition to a commercially live, full-scale 5G Standalone network over time, bringing the high-end capabilities of 5G to their customers.

Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel, says: “Ericsson’s enduring partnership with Airtel has entered an exciting new phase, marked by the deployment of Ericsson’s 5G Core solutions to support Airtel’s transition to 5G Standalone. This rollout will play a pivotal role in Airtel’s long-term 5G strategy, boosting network capacity and enabling the delivery of innovative, differentiated services to customers.”

Andres Vicente, Head of Market Area Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson, says: “As a global 5G leader, Ericsson is committed to providing Bharti Airtel its latest technology solutions. This deployment is a significant step towards making Bharti Airtel’s network 5G Standalone ready and future proof. Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G core enables monetization through network slicing-based services and network API exposure, unleashing new, innovative use cases for consumers and enterprises.”

As part of this agreement, Ericsson will deploy its Signaling Controller solution within Bharti Airtel’s network. Furthermore, Ericsson’s 5G Standalone-enabled Charging and Policy solution will be introduced. These new capabilities represent a strategic enhancement to Bharti Airtel’s 5G monetization efforts, enabling the development of new business models.

Ericsson is a longstanding Bharti Airtel connectivity partner with a close relationship spanning more than 25 years and covering every generation of mobile communications, including the award of Bharti Airtel’s first 5G contract in India.