February 18, 2016, 11:00 (CET)

• Three-year managed services contract covers operation and maintenance of the optical fiber cable network

• Ericsson to manage 10 telecom circles in East and West India, spanning a distance of approximately 45,000 kilometers

• The agreement in India strengthens partnership between Vodafone and Ericsson and complements collaborations in other parts of the world

Vodafone India, the country's leading mobile services provider, has selected Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to manage its optical fiber cable network for three years in 10 telecom circles. The new agreement covers operations and maintenance of Vodafone's optical fiber network across East and West India, spanning a distance of approximately 45,000 kilometers.

Vishant Vora, CTO of Vodafone India, says:

"We have selected Ericsson as a partner to manage our optical fiber cable network given Ericsson's strength and experience in managing multivendor, multi-technology networks for operators globally and in India. This agreement will give Vodafone the benefit of Ericsson's expertise in this area."

Vodafone is a leading provider of mobile services and has recently been expanding its own 3G services to many new circles and also launched 4G-LTE services in 5 circles in India. It has more than 194 million subscribers in India.

Paolo Colella, Head of Region India at Ericsson, says:

"Ericsson has been Vodafone's partner in the radio, core and transport domains for many years. This managed services agreement in India strengthens that partnership in a very important market and complements our collaborations in other parts of the world. At Ericsson, we continue to invest in tools, methods and processes in order to help our customers increase their network efficiency while delivering world-class subscriber experiences."

Ericsson has more than 15 years' experience in managing multivendor, multi-technology networks for operators globally, including India.

Today, Ericsson provides managed services for networks that together serve more than 1 billion subscribers worldwide. With the addition of Vodafone's optical fiber network Ericsson will manage a total of 2,225,000 kilometers of fiber and strengthen its existing fiber operations in India. The company plans to continue its focus on meeting the growing need for strong transport networks.