Indian operator Vodafone Essar has named Ericsson & Nokia Siemens Networks as 3G suppliers. Vodafone had won spectrum in 9 circles during India’s 3G auction earlier this year.

Ericsson will provide 3G HSPA hardware, software and related service vendor to equip India’s largest metropolitan cities; Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata with latest HSPA mobile broadband network.

Where as Nokia Siemens Networks will supply, implement and manage its 3G network in six of the nine circles – Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh (East), rest of West Bengal and Haryana – where it secured 3G spectrum. 

Under the agreement with Vodafone, Ericsson will provide the RAN system, network rollout services, tuning, spare parts and training services, along with the 3G common core platform and transmission over the coming months. The radio access network will include it's multi-standard radio base station RBS 6000 and mobile soft-switching technology.

NSN will also operate the 3G network for three years under a managed services contract to enable simplified operations, improved network efficiency and consistent service delivery.

The Indian government concluded the auction for 3G spectrum for the country’s 22 telecom circles in May this year.