Highlights:
- Nokia is Airtel’s biggest 4G vendor
- Airtel and Nokia join hands in an Rs. 7,636 crore deal for 5G technology
Airtel seeks to strengthen its 4G network and enhance its 5G capabilities in the country and for this Bharti Airtel has signed a massive $ 1 billion (over Rs. 7,600 crores) multi-year deal with Nokia seeking the Finnish company to deploy its 5G-ready solutions across the nine circles in India.
Nokia which is already the biggest 4G vendor of Airtel will now help the telecom in laying foundations for 5G connectivity in the coming future by deploying 3 lakh radio units across various spectrums bands in those 9 circles which are expected to be completed by 2022.
IANS reports that the size of the deal is almost $ 1 billion between Airtel and Nokia.
Gopal Vittal who is the Managing Director (MD) and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (India and South Asia) of Bharti Airtel said, “We have been working with Nokia for more than a decade now and are delighted to use Nokia’s SRAN products in further improving the capacity and coverage of our network as we prepare for the 5G era,” in a statement.
Nokia’s SRAN solution helps the operators in managing their not just 2G or 3G networks but also the 4G network from one platform which reduces the complexity for the company and increases the cost-effectiveness. The Finnish company will be the only provider of SRAN in these 9 circles in India for Airtel.
Nokia is known for its high speed and low latency networks which will only enhance the platform for the company when it launches 5G networks in India.
Nokia’s President and CEO said, “We have worked closely with Bharti Airtel for many years and are delighted to extend this long-standing partnership further. This project will enhance their current networks and deliver best-in-class connectivity to Airtel customers but also lay the foundations for 5G services in the future,”.
Currently, India is the 2nd biggest telecom market in the face of the Earth and is expected to reach over 900 million unique mobile customers by 2025, which will include 88 million 5G connections as per GSMA.
In 2019 alone, the country’s demand for data services increased exponentially with Nokia’s Mbit Index 2020 claiming an increase of 47%.
The SRAN solution by Nokia will help Airtel in addressing the growing demand by adding network capacity and ensuring that the telecom giant maintains a superior quality for its customers.
The deal between Nokia and Airtel will also include Nokia’s RAN equipment including AirScale Radio Access, AirScale BaseBand, and NetAct OSS solution which will help Airtel in monitoring and managing its networks effectively.
