Ericsson partners Airtel for largest transformation programme in Africa

Bharti Airtel has said it has undertaken an end-to-end network transformation programme across its mobile operations in 16 African countries that is the largest of its kind on the African continent. In partnership with Ericsson, the programme involved a comprehensive upgrade and expansion of network elements on all of Airtel’s African operations, including switching, radio, network management, data, charging, and consumer-services platforms and systems.

This network transformation is set to enhance Airtel’s network capacity and robustness and help deliver best-in-class services to customers at affordable rates. This also makes Airtel’s networks fully ready for next generation services that include high speed data and value added services. 

In addition, a full upgrade of the charging platforms across all operations was implemented introducing the latest version of Ericsson’s Charging System, enabling Airtel to offer subscribers new and innovative value-added services such as mobile wallets.

Backed by 12,000 consulting and systems integration professionals across the world, over one hundred resources worked onsite to ensure successful delivery of this complex project – the largest network modernisation programme in Africa’s telecom history. Ericsson’s systems integration organisation delivers more than 1,500 systems integration projects per year in multi-vendor and multiple-technology environments.

This transformation programme follows the 2011 announcement of an on-going five-year multi-country managed services agreement, wherein Ericsson would manage and optimise Airtel’s mobile networks across Africa.