India's Reliance Communications has become the first mobile operator in the nation to sign on to use the Small Cell as a Service carrier-grade Wi-Fi network being operated by Ericsson for Ozone Networks.
Reliance will use the existing Ericsson/Ozone Wi-Fi infrastructure to launch services for customers with the goal of providing a seamless end-user experience.
Reliance Communications president and chief commercial officer Suresh Rangachar said the company will use the agreement to help meet ever-growing demand for data in ultra-dense environments by offloading data onto the country-wide Wi-Fi network.
“With Ericsson's Small Cell as a Service platform we have the unique ability to seamlessly combine 3G/4G with carrier-grade Wi-Fi, thereby ensuring that Reliance Communications' network capacity always exceeds demand, which in turn helps the company meet customer expectations,” Ozone CEO Sanjeev Sarin added.
Through the small cell as a service offering, Ericsson designs, plans, builds and optimizes networks using its small cell technology and then manages them on behalf of customers through long-term contracts.