Nokia contract valued at $210 million and includes the core and radio networks; Vodafone India also contracts with Huawei and Ericsson.
Vodafone India awarded Nokia a multi-year contract extension worth $210 million covering the delivery of managed services in multiple telecom circles.
The scope of the agreement has been expanded to cover managed services for 14 of India’s 22 telecoms circles, and field operations in the remaining eight, according to local press report, and also been expanded to cover the core as well as radio network.
Vodafone recently awarded Huawei a three-year managed services contract worth between $180 million and $220 million covering three circles, as well as network operations in two circles. In February, the operator awarded contracts to Ericsson to manage its fiber assets in 10 circles across India.
In related news, Vodafone India is looking to expand its LTE network to 2,400 towns across 17 circles by the end of March, local press reported. The operator plans to launch LTE services in Goa, Punjab and Chennai in the short term, having added Dehradun, Haridwar, Aligarh, Nainital and nine other business, tourism and educational hubs in Uttar Pradesh West and Uttarakhand to its coverage area last week.
Vodafone India launched commercial LTE services in December 2015, using spectrum in the 1800 MHz band. The carrier ended the third quarter of 2016 with 36 million 3G and LTE subscribers, and over the previous six months added 4,100 new 3G sites across India, taking the total to 63,000 sites. Vodafone India also operates 13,000 LTE sites, and plans to extend its LTE footprint from nine to 17 circles this year.
