India-based Ozone Networks has signed a Small Cell as a Service agreement with Ericsson to provide a neutral carrier-grade Wi-Fi network across India.
In the first stage of the project, Ericsson will provide Ozone with 30,000 Wi-Fi access points and network management nodes and tools, as well as a variety of options for monetising the Wi-Fi network. These include opportunities for offering telecommunications operators the chance to reduce the data burden on their network by utilising the neutral Wi-Fi network to carry some of the traffic. Further, Ericsson will provide Wi-Fi technology based on an as-a-service model, and manage it according to a service level agreement for a period of five years.
Commenting on the development, Sanjeev Sarin, Chief Executive Officer at Ozone, said ?In today?s world, consumers like to be connected at all times, which means that network capacity becomes an extremely important factor. Deployment of Ericsson?s Small Cell as a Service offering will enable us to better manage consumer expectations in ultra-dense environments.?
