Ericsson, Bharti tie up for mobile Internet applications

NEW DELHI: Ericsson and 'Mobility Leaders', the mobile services business

group of Bharti Tele-ventures, an Indian telecom conglomerate have signed a pact

to develop and test mobile Internet applications for the Indian market.

This is the first time in India that a mobile infrastructure company and a

mobile service provider are partnering to accelerate acceptance, demand and

growth of Mobile Internet applications for Indian consumers.

The new applications will be tested and verified at the 'Ericsson Mobility

World'; a state-of-the-art development facility set up by Ericsson in New Delhi.

The facility will provide service providers, application developers, and content

providers access to a global pool of expertise and a wide range of mobile

application technologies to develop solutions for the local market.

As part of the Joint Application Development Initiative, Bharti and Ericsson

will jointly evaluate applications developed by application providers. Once the

applications comply with the technical specifications then they will be verified

and tested at 'Ericsson Mobility World' over SMS, WAP, and GPRS using various

terminals.

The model will enable Bharti to introduce at a fast clip, ready-to-launch

mobile applications, customized and fully integrated with the Bharti mobile

network. Ericsson will benefit by stimulating GPRS services and usage in the

country thereby expanding the infrastructure market.

"The Indian subscribers have already adopted the mass applications of

mobile Internet like SMS and email," said Jan Campbell, Managing Director,

Ericsson India Pvt. Ltd.

"In the second phase, with the roll-out of high speed GPRS networks,

service providers will be able to deliver information and access in a fast and

convenient way to mobile phone users. We are happy to partner with the Mobility

group of Bharti Tele-ventures to facilitate development of mobile Internet

applications specifically for their subscribers", he added.