Ericsson Said to Have Bagged New 5G Contract from India’s Bharti Airtel

DA Gadgets October 14, 2024 telecom

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Swedish
telecom
gear
maker
Ericsson
has
received
a
new
multi-billion
dollar
contract
for
selling
5G
equipment
from
India’s
Bharti
Airtel,
two
sources
familiar
with
the
matter
said.

This
comes
after

Ericsson got
part
of
a
$3.6
billion
(roughly
Rs. 30,259
crore)
contract
last
month
for
selling

5G
equipment
to
India’s
Vodafone
Idea.
It
shared
the
contract
with
Nokia
and
Samsung.

The
new
contracts
are
expected
to
boost
Ericsson’s
revenue
next
year
after
seeing
a
big
fall
in
contracts
from
India
in
the
first
half
of
the
year.

Sales
in
Southeast
Asia,
Oceania,
and
India
had
decreased
by
44
percent
in
the
second
quarter.
Ericsson
will
announce
its
third-quarter
results
on
Tuesday.

Much
of
the
deployment
is
likely
to
happen
next
year,
according
to
one
source
familiar
with
the
matter.

Ericsson
declined
to
comment.

Airtel did
not
immediately
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.

Shares
in
Ericsson
rose
as
much
as
1.8
percent
after
the
Reuters
story.

Demand
from
the
Indian
5G
market
started
to
skyrocket
in
2023,
when
sales
from
the
region
grew
as
much
as
five
times,
as
Airtel
and

Jio,
the
telecoms
unit
of
Indian
conglomerate
Reliance
Industries,
started
to
scale
up
5G
services.

That
demand
cushioned
a
slowdown
in
revenue
from
Ericsson’s
main
US
market
where
telecom
operators
have
been
lowering
spending.

Global
telecom
equipment
revenue
had
dropped
16
percent
year-over-year
in
the
second
quarter,
recording
a
fourth
consecutive
quarter
of
double-digit
contractions,
according
to
research
firm
Dell’Oro.