Espoo, Finland - Bharti Airtel Limited has awarded Nokia an estimated USD 400 million contract to expand its managed GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks in eight Airtel circles and deploy a pan-Indian WAP solution across its networks.
As per the three-year contract, Nokia will provide managed services and expand Airtel networks to cover all towns and cities in the eight telecom circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa, Gujarat, Bihar (including Jharkhand), Orissa, Kolkata, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh (including Chattisgarh). The network monitoring operations will be carried out from Nokia's state-of-the-art Global Network Services Center in Chennai.
Nokia will also deploy its WAP solution across Airtel's national network to enhance the operator's mobile packet core network capabilities. The WAP gateway will enable easy usage of data services, thereby increasing the consumption of content on the Airtel network. Nokia will provide consulting services and integrate the WAP gateway into a multi-vendor environment.
Nokia will deploy the latest radio and core network equipment including Nokia MSC Server System (MSS) mobile softswitch, Nokia Flexi WCDMA and Ultrasite base stations, and provide services based on Bharti's capacity requirements, delivering a cost-efficient rollout of on-demand capacity. The contract also has stringent service level agreements and performance metrics for both parties, which are designed to provide consistently high-quality services to subscribers and continuously enhance the user experience.
Mr Manoj Kohli, President, Bharti Airtel said: "Our network leadership across India is a critical driver in the Bharti Airtel success story. Our partnership with Nokia reinforces our commitment to this cause and Nokia will provide us the latest technology and expertise to drive growth in the latent market in Eastern India and rapidly expand our coverage in Western parts of India."
"Nokia is proud to collaborate with Bharti on its initiative to take mobile services to millions of unconnected Indians and enhance the mobile data experience of its existing customers," said Mr. Ashish Chowdhary, Country Director, Networks, Nokia India. "Our extensive managed services capability, powered with a comprehensive and high-quality product portfolio makes Nokia a catalyst for providing affordable mobile services to rural consumers."
In the past two years, Nokia has signed two contracts collectively worth USD 400 million with Bharti for the supply of equipment and managed services.
With its proven track record in managing networks on behalf of operators around the world, Nokia is able to support operators to enhance their service offerings and reduce costs. Nokia is a major player in the Managed Services business with close to 60 managed services contracts globally. Nokia provides managed services in 27 telecom circles in India.
Nokia's operations in India include networks and terminals sales divisions, three Research and Development facilities, Global Networks Solutions Center and a manufacturing facility in Chennai that produces both terminals and GSM infrastructure equipment.
About Bharti Airtel Ltd.
Bharti Airtel Limited is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications services with an aggregate of 25.89 million customers as of end of July'06, consisting of 24.34 million mobile customers. Bharti Airtel has been being ranked among the top 10 best performing companies in the world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list. The company was the first private operator to provide mobile services in all the 23 circles in India.
The company also provides telephone services and Internet access over DSL in 92 cities. The company complements its mobile, broadband & telephone services with national and international long distance services. The company also has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable (owned by an associate company) connecting Chennai and Singapore. The company is a part of the consortium, which jointly owns and has developed the next generation undersea cable system SEA-ME-WE-4. The company provides reliable end-to-end data and enterprise services to the corporate customers by leveraging its nationwide fiber optic backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-line and mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth access through the gateways and landing station. For more information, visit http://www.bhartiairtel.in
About Nokia
Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations.
A market leader in the mobile industry in Asia Pacific, Nokia provides innovative, industry-leading and market-relevant technology and products to around 20 diverse markets in the region.
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