Ericsson said on Wednesday it has signed yet another new agreement with Indian telco Bharti Airtel – this one to support Airtel’s rollout of 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) services by enhancing its core network.

Specifically, Ericsson will deploy its Local Packet Gateway (LPG) platform that it says supports high-capacity FWA with a smaller footprint and better total cost of ownership.

“Ericsson’s LPG is designed to deliver high performance with efficiency and scale, making it ideal for driving Airtel’s 5G FWA ambitions,” said Andres Vicente, head of Market Area Southeast Asia, Oceania and India at Ericsson in a statement.

The solution builds on a previous agreement between both companies in February 2025 under which Ericsson is deploying 5G packet core network solutions to give Airtel a unified and future-ready network infrastructure to transition to a 5G standalone (SA) network.

“This strategic implementation is specifically designed to accommodate rapidly increasing customer data requirements, ensuring robust performance and seamless connectivity even under peak demand,” said Airtel CTO Randeep Sekhon.

The FWA agreement is the latest in a string of deals Ericsson has landed with Airtel since securing a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar deal to supply 4G and 5G equipment late last year. Apart from the 5G SA core agreement, other deals this year have covered areas such as extended reality (XR) and managed services.

Airtel first launched 5G FWA services in August 2023.

Earlier this year, the telco awarded contracts to Nokia and Qualcomm to expand the service with Nokia's 5G outdoor receivers, which are tailored for multi-dwelling units, as well as its Wi-Fi 6 access point – which utilises Qualcomm Modem-RF and Wi-Fi 6 chipsets – to improve in-home connectivity.