Ericsson bagged a new 3G network rollout contract from Vodafone Essar. The contract is for the three metro circles of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

The network will be based on HSPA technological standard and will enable Vodafone Essar to offer 3G services such as video telephony, mobile broadband, mobile TV, video on demand  and others such as music downloads, video tones, instant messaging, on line gaming.

Marten Pieters, Managing Director, Vodafone Essar, said, “Globally, Vodafone provides enhanced 3G experiences to a large base of customers. India is now ready for 3G, and we are committed to offer similar high-quality 3G services to our Indian customers. Ericsson is one of the specialists in this area and we view this as a very strategic alliance, in order to deliver and maintain a high quality network which customers will expect from Vodafone.”

Gowton Achaibar, Head of Region India, commented, "We are extremely honoured to be chosen by Vodafone Essar for their 3G HSPA network deployment in India. The contract further strengthens Ericsson's position as the leading mobile communications supplier in the Indian market and demonstrates yet again our long-term strategic partnership with Vodafone Essar. We are confident that our undisputed technology leadership and global experience will contribute to the rapid expansion of India's mobile Broadband market."

Ericsson will provide supply the RAN system, network rollout services, tuning, spare parts and training services, along with the 3G common core platform and transmission over the coming months. The radio access network will include the latest multi-standard radio base station RBS 6000 and mobile soft-switching technology, which will drastically boost the capacity of the network and evolve it into an IP network, said Ericsson.