VIL, Ericsson Deep Partnership to Modernise Postpaid Services, Augment Network

Telecom operator Vodafone Idea has deepened its strategic partnership with Swedish communications gear maker Ericsson to modernise its postpaid services while supporting its ongoing network expansion across the country, according to a release on Monday.

Ericsson will continue to strengthen VIL's network footprint through the deployment and integration of new network sites, capacity augmentation, and coverage expansion.

These efforts will lead to enhancing indoor coverage, improving data capacity, and supporting VIL's ongoing efforts for expanding 5G and 4G connectivity.

Announcing the deepening of the partnership, the release said that since 2024, Ericsson has deployed new 5G and 4G sites, layer additions on existing sites and High-Performance Small Cell towers across 10 circles.

"Vodafone Idea... has expanded its strategic partnership with Ericsson to modernise its postpaid services while supporting its ongoing network expansion across the country," it said.

Building on the migration of hundreds of millions of VIL prepaid subscribers to Ericsson Charging in 2023, the telecom operator has now chosen to deploy cloud-native 'Ericsson Charging' to support and expand its postpaid subscriber segment and "deliver innovative postpaid offers", the release said.

Put simply, Ericsson Charging is a modular, scalable, open, single convergent Online Charging System (OCS) -- it aims to provide an effective route to capture and secure revenue streams and tap into business opportunities from both traditional telecom services as well as digital services, 5G and IoT.

As per the release, the deal expands Ericsson’s existing footprint in VIL's prepaid subscriber segment to include the postpaid business as well, making the telecom equipment company a major pan-India supplier of online charging solutions for both prepaid and postpaid customers.

The release did not divulge the financial details of the partnership.

"The new agreement also empowers VIL with a selection of new Ericsson Telco IT AI Apps, giving it greater control and flexibility over its charging platform and ensuring it can deliver reliable, efficient and future-proof services to its subscribers," the release said.

The telco will leverage AI applications, including anomaly detection for charging applications, order fallout detection and prediction, capacity forecast for telco cloud stack and intelligent usage analysis for charging to enhance service delivery, improve customer experience, and drive efficiency.

"VIL will transform its legacy offline charging and rating functionalities of the billing solution with Ericsson's Convergent Charging System, which will enable real-time charging for voice, VOLTE, SMS and data services across consumer and enterprise businesses.

"The new system will be more flexible, scalable and cost-efficient and will allow Vi to launch new services faster," the release said and added the upgrade will improve operational efficiency and customer experience and help prepare Vi’s network for 5G Standalone going forward.