Ericsson on Tuesday said that it has bagged a contract for rolling out the fourth generation network of Augere in Madhya Pradesh. Augere had won broadband spectrum in Madhya Pradesh, including Chhattisgarh, during the auctions held last year. The company will roll-out services early next year, with soft launch planned for second quarter 2012. Augere will sell the service under the Zoosh brand.
This is first LTE deal in India. Other players, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries and Aircel, also have broadband spectrum but are yet to announce plans. Apart from this, Ericsson will also be responsible for providing managed services with network operations for 3 years along with spare-parts management and annual maintenance services. Ericsson will plan, design, build, operate and maintain the 4G network for Augere. The size of the deal was not revealed. Augere is promoted by Mr Sanjiv Ahuja, the former CEO of France-based Orange Telecom.