Ericsson announced that it has bagged push email contract from Aircel under which Ericsson will take end-to-end responsibility for the service including integrations, operation and maintenance. According to Ericsson, the integration of the service has already begun and the commercial launch is scheduled for second quarter of 2008.

Ericsson states that its push email solution is based on SMS/MMS messaging and enables users to send and receive emails from POP3 email accounts to their mobile phones.

Rohit Chandra, Executive Director at Aircel, said, "Keeping the subscriber engaged with value-added services is increasingly becoming a focus area for all operators. Creating and launching such innovative initiatives across the network is essential to drive mass market engagement and help capitalize first mover advantage. Ericsson is a long-standing partner and its expertise and clear understanding of our needs makes it the right choice for this project."

Mats Granryd, President of Ericsson India, said, "This deal marks a worldwide first for Ericsson, and we are proud to be working with Aircel. It also sets the stage for further hosting deployments that deliver value added services. We are confident that the launch of innovative services such as the consumer push e-mail will help Aircel maintain its leadership position in its markets."