Ericsson Press Releases

Ericsson and Kyivstar sign contract for GSM/EDGE network expansion including mobile softswitch

Date: Tuesday, April 11 2006
 

Kyivstar, Ukraine's leading mobile operator and Ericsson
(NASDAQ:ERICY), world's largest supplier of telecommunications,
signed a three-year frame contract including equipment and services
to expand the operator's GSM/GPRS/EDGE network and Ericsson Mobile
Softswitch solution.
 
Under the agreement, Ericsson will supply core and radio network
equipment for Kyivstar high-functionality GSM/GPRS/EDGE network.
 
Igor Litovchenko, President of Kyivstar GSM, says: "The agreement is
an important step in our partnership with Ericsson, which is based on
Kyivstar's consistent policy to offer top class communications
services to our suscribers."
 
One of the cornerstones of the new agreement is the delivery of
Ericsson Mobile Softswitch solution, which will increase Kyivstar's
network capacity, performance and coverage to meet subscriber growth
and demand for new services. Ericsson Mobile Softswitch is also the
first step in the evolution to an all-IP network.
 
Björn Hemstad, President of Ericsson Eastern Europe and Central Asia,
says: "We are proud that Kyivstar selected Ericsson for this
contract. This is the result of many years of successful cooperation
and Ericsson's future-proof solutions for operator's network."
 
Ericsson softswitch solutions are widely deployed in both fixed and
mobile networks. They enable cost optimized network design and
efficient IP transport for all services. The distributed softswitch
architecture improves investment efficiency through node
consolidation and the superior price/performance of modern IP based
equipment. Operating Expenses (Opex) are cut due to reduced
transmission costs and simplified operations and maintenance and
network planning. Business cases around the world have shown core
network Opex savings are of up to 50%.
 
Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet
communications through its continuous technology leadership.
Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson
is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the
 world.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
 
Ericsson Media Relations
Phone: +46 8 719 69 92
E-mail: press.relations@ericsson.com
 
About Ericsson Softswitch solutions
Ericsson is the leading provider of Softswitch solutions for both
mobile and wireline networks. Ericsson's solutions are commercially
proven and fully standards-compliant, offering an efficient and
low-risk evolution of existing circuit-switched networks to a telecom
quality, IP based service platform. They use network resources in the
most cost efficient way to provide both classic telephony and next
generation services. More than 70 fixed and mobile operators
worldwide have commercially launched services based on Ericsson's
Softswitch solutions.
 
About Kyivstar
National mobile operator Kyivstar is the leader in Ukrainian market
of mobile communications. At present Kyivstar has more than 14.97
millions of subscribers, providing coverage to 97% of Ukraine's
population. Kyivstar network covers all Ukrainian cities and 25
thousands of settlements, all main national and regional highways,
majority of sea and river coasts of Ukraine. Kyivstar renders GPRS
services throughout entire coverage area and also international
GPRS-roaming services in 81 countries within the networks of 132
foreign operators. Kyivstar renders roaming services within networks
of 305 foreign operators in 159 countries in 5 continents of world.