New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS): Telecom major Bharti Airtel Monday expanded for five years its managed services agreement for India operations with Swedish telecom equipment provider Ericsson.

"Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, today expanded its managed services agreement with Ericsson for its India operations," the Swedish firm said in a statement.

"Under this new five-year multi-vendor, multi-technology managed services agreement, Ericsson will operate, maintain and provide services across 70 percent of Bharti Airtel's network in India," it added.

The company, however, did not disclose the financial transaction involved.

Under the agreement, Ericsson will also take responsibility for the intelligent network that manages Bharti Airtel's prepaid customer base.

"With India emerging as the third largest internet market and a multi-fold growth in data traffic on the back of a rising number of smartphones, wireless networks need to be ready for the data revolution that has only just begun," said Sanjay Kapoor, chief executive officer (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel.

The 15 telecom circles under the scope of the partnership are Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (west), Uttar Pradesh (east), Rajasthan, northeastern states, Assam, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chennai and Kerala.