The total value of the Nokia deal reaches approximately $500 million
Finnish vendor Nokia signed an agreement with Indian operator Bharti Airtel to expand 4G telecom infrastructure across nine circles in India.
Under the terms of the deal, Nokia will deploy its 4G Frequency Division Duplex-LTE and Time Division-LTE technology across nine of Bharti Airtel’s circles in India including the regions of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rest of Bengal, Odisha, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Kerala and UP East, serving major cities such as Lucknow, Ahmendabad, Patna and Siliguri.
The European vendor also will expand Bharti Airtel’s 3G network in eight of the circles as part of this rollout and modernization of legacy 2G base transceiver stations. The rollout uses Nokia’s radio access with Single RAN technology for FDD-LTE and TD-LTE
The deal also considers provision of professional services including network integration and network planning and optimization.
“This network expansion will provide the capacity, coverage and speeds the company needs to meet the next wave of data demand in India,” Nokia’s head for the India market, Sanjay Malik, said.
Bharti Airtel currently offers LTE services through spectrum in the 1800 MHz and 2.3 GHz bands. The telco has recently obtained 173.6 megahertz in the 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.3 GHz bands in the recently concluded spectrum sale by the government.
Nokia signs deal to expand STC’s mobile broadband capacity across Saudi Arabia
In related news, Nokia and STC have signed an agreement to expand high-speed mobile broadband capacity and coverage in Saudi Arabia using “4.5G” technology.
Nokia said it has completed the first phase of the deployment in Mecca and Medina, where the company was asked to dramatically increase capacity. The vendor also said that it will continue to deploy its 4.5G macro and small cell radio access network and microwave packet radio technology to provide ubiquitous coverage and faster access to the internet across Saudi Arabia, allowing STC to launch new services and expand the delivery of voice over LTE to more subscribers.
The contract also includes Nokia’s turnkey services, network implementation and network planning and optimization, care and managed services, as well as Nokia NetAct network management technology.
