Ericsson and Nokia are expected to reap some big contracts in the next year as Indian operators aggressively deploy GSM infrastructure, says a new report from Prudential Equity Group. Analyst Inder Singh says that Indian operators are expected to ramp up spending during the next several months, to ease congestion problems, as the number of mobile subscribers in India grows by about 5 million a month. Network quality stinks and India's Telecom Regulatory Authority has been pressuring operators to improve service. Singh noted that state-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam is anticipated to award an expansion contract valued at $4.5 billion in October, split between two vendors. He expects the big winner will be Ericsson, which recently won a $1 billion managed services deal with Bharti Airtel [1]. Nokia and its partner Siemens is expected to win a smaller piece of the pie.
To read more about the spending spree in India:
- check out this article [2] from Light Reading
Links:
[1] http://fiercewireless.com/story/ericsson-wins-1b-managed-services-deal-in-india/2006-08-24
[2] http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=102688&WT.svl=news1_3