Reliance Communications (RCOM) has signed an eight-year full-scope managed services agreement with Ericsson. The contract is valued at $1 billion and as per the conditions of the same, Ericsson is to operate and manage the operator's wireline and wireless networks in north and west India.

Ericsson will also manage the day to day operations across these networks, as well as the field maintenance, network operations and operational planning of the operator's 2G, CDMA and 3G mobile networks.

Commenting on the agreement, Gurdeep Singh, chief executive officer, wireless business, Reliance Communications said, "We are happy to announce our partnership with Ericsson to manage our wireline and wireless network enabling us to provide a higher level of customer experience in terms of network and services. Given the complexity of network increasing with platforms, technologies and application offerings, we are banking on the experience, innovation and technical expertise of Ericsson to improve the productivity of our network and ensure that it delivers to its full potential. We are confident that they will exceed the expectations of our customers through optimisation of resources and provide us cost effective solutions."