Bharti Tele Ventures Limited (BTVL) has signed a $250 million deal with Ericsson under which the latter will set up and maintain Bharti's GSM mobile services in 3,000 towns and villages in 15 regions. The deal follows a similar $400 million agreement announced last year. Ericsson will provide design, deployment, integration, optimisation and management of the network in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and the northeast. This is part of Bharti's initiative to roll out its network in rural India. Bharti is the only private operator offering services in all 23 circles. The first phase of this expansion into rural India will start in July 2005.