Zimbabwe's Econet Wireless has selected telecoms technology and services company, Ericsson, as the sole supplier for its core network.

Econet is the southern African nation's largest mobile operator. The mobile telco has over 9 million mobile phone subscribers.

According to a statement the deal will see the companies working together to simplify and upgrade the existing 2G/3G/4G/LTE networks, future proofing these for mobile expansion in the country.

The partnership will also see the close integration between policy and charging functions, which will enable Econet to reduce time-to-market for new offerings, the statement reads.

Bernard Fernandes, group chief technology officer of Econet said,"We have chosen our trusted long-term partner Ericsson to accompany us on this journey and look forward to the ability to launch new products and quality services to our customers."

Ericsson Zimbabwe country manager, Pieter Goosen added, "Econet is the market leader in Zimbabwe and this project will give them one of the most advanced core networks on the continent, providing them far more capacity to manage and scale their network."