Ozone Network has signed a Small Cell as a Service agreement with Ericsson to provide a neutral carrier-grade Wi-Fi network across India.

Ericsson offers Small Cell as a Service with a variety of different business models to suit environments such as connected venues, connected streets and connected enterprises. This deal is an example of the connected venue application, as Ozone's Wi-Fi network will serve restaurants, cafés, shops and malls.

Deployment of Ericsson’s Small Cell as a Service offering will enable Ozone Networks to manage consumer expectations in ultra-dense environments.

“The partnership will also ensure that Ozone is able to establish the neutral Wi-Fi model in India, which will help the Indian Government make the right to internet access a reality for every Indian,” said Sanjeev Sarin, CEO, Ozone Networks.

Ericsson will supply 30,000 Wi-Fi access points and network management nodes and tools, as well as a variety of options for monetizing the Wi-Fi network in the first stage of the project.

These include opportunities for offering telecom operators the chance to reduce the data burden on their network by utilizing the neutral Wi-Fi network to carry some of the traffic.