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Bharti Airtel , India's second-largest telecom provider, saw its shares jump nearly 3% in intraday trade on Tuesday, February 25, to ₹ 1,643 apiece after the company partnered with Ericsson’s 5G Core technology to drive 5G evolution. Today's rise also ended the stock’s six-day losing streak, during which it had lost nearly 7% of its value. In a regulatory filing today, the company announced its collaboration with Ericsson to deploy its secure, high-performing 5G Core network, benefiting millions of Airtel customers and enterprises across India.
According to the company, this partnership will enable Airtel to seamlessly transition to a commercially live, full-scale 5G standalone network over time, bringing the advanced capabilities of 5G to its customers . "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, unlocking new, innovative use cases for consumers and enterprises," said Andres Vicente, Head of Market Area Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India, Ericsson.
As part of the agreement, Ericsson will deploy its Signaling Controller solution within Bharti Airtel’s network. Additionally, Ericsson’s 5G Standalone-enabled Charging and Policy solution will be introduced. According to the filing, these new capabilities represent a strategic enhancement to Bharti Airtel’s 5G monetization efforts, enabling the development of new business models.
Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel, stated, “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.” " Ericsson has been a longstanding connectivity partner of Bharti Airtel , with a 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," the company said.
On February 12, the company awarded a contract to Nokia and Qualcomm to expand 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and Wi-Fi solutions across India. Under the agreement, Nokia will supply Airtel with 5G FWA outdoor gateway receivers and Wi-Fi 6 access points, powered by Qualcomm’s modem-RF and Wi-Fi 6 chipsets. This initiative aims to enhance broadband connectivity in areas with limited fibre infrastructure, leveraging 5G technology to meet India's growing demand for high-speed digital services.
Recent Developments It has been reported that Tata Group and Bharti Group are close to merging their satellite TV businesses, creating a nearly $1.6 billion entity aimed at adapting to the continued migration of subscribers to digital streaming, Economic Times reported on Tuesday. Citing sources, the report stated that the merged entity is expected to be operated by Bharti Airtel, which will likely hold between 52% and 55%, with the remainder held by Tata Play shareholders, including Walt Disney.
On Monday, the company announced a strategic partnership with Apple to bring the highly acclaimed Apple TV+ streaming services and Apple Music to Airtel customers. Meanwhile, Airtel’s ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) in the December quarter rose to ₹ 245, up from ₹ 208 in the same period last year. Disclaimer : The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts.
These do not represent the views of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions..
