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Ericsson-Bharti Airtel to Bring the 4G Experience to India

Steering the 4G revolution into India, Ericsson ERIC disclosed a four-year agreement with India's leading telecom services provider, Bharti Airtel. In particular, this world’s largest supplier of LTE technology has been chosen by Bharti Airtel for the roll out of 4G (‘LTE-FDD’) network for its subscribers in Delhi. The deployment of 4G by Bharti Airtel is well strategized to cater to the thriving mobile broadband demand in India.

The deal signifies Ericsson’s first LTE-FDD rollout in the national capital. As per the alliance, the company will supply multi-standard radio equipment from its Ericsson RBS 6000 base station family meant for macro and small cell networks. Along with this, the company will deploy its LTE RAN software for the Indian telecom operator. Apart from Delhi, Ericsson will provide LTE networks in four other circles for Bharti Airtel.

India – A Lucrative 4G Market

With mobile phone operators in India jumping on the 4G LTE bandwagon, telecom equipment manufacturers are now looking to make the most of this opportunity in one of the fastest-growing countries among the emerging markets in the telecom space. According to a recent Ericsson Mobility Report, nearly 40% of India’s population is expected to avail 4G speed by 2020.

India is gradually gaining importance among telecom equipment suppliers as most carriers are either deploying new or upgrading 3G networks across vast areas. With demand for high-bandwidth communication services like video streaming and VoLTE (Voice over LTE) on the rise, the country poses significant market potential for telecom service providers and telecom equipment manufacturers alike.

To Conclude

We believe, the Ericsson-Bharti Airtel deal is strategic at this time, as 4G in India is still at a nascent stage. However, this fastest-growing country among the emerging markets is not devoid of competition. Other service providers like Vodafone India – subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc VOD, Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular are also looking forward to launch their 4G services within a year’s time.

Nevertheless, Ericsson, being one of the premier telecom services providers, is much in demand among operators to expand network coverage and upgrade networks for higher speed and capacity. The company currently has significant presence in high-traffic LTE markets like US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia and Canada. At present, Ericsson serves around 40% of the global LTE smartphone traffic. Encouragingly, the company is expecting LTE subscriptions to stand at 3.7 billion by 2020.

Ericsson currently sports a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other stocks worth considering in the industry include Harris Corp. HRS and Juniper Networks, Inc. JNPR. Both stocks carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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