Bharti Airtel taps Nokia for 3G upgrade in India

Details: James Barton; Category: Wireless Networks; 21 November 2014; 7165 views

Nokia Networks has been commissioned by Bharti Airtel to enhance its 3G networks in the Bihar, Mumbai and West Bengal telecom circles.

The deal marks India’s first dual-band, dual-carrier 3G network implementation, refarming 900MHz to complement Mumbai’s existing 3G network on 2100MHz. The higher throughput enabled by this will improve 3G services for end users.

“This deal bolsters our long-term partnership with Bharti Airtel, and we are committed to helping the operator provide further improved mobile broadband experience for its customers. While Nokia’s Single RAN Advanced platform will ensure a reliable 3G mobile broadband connectivity, our comprehensive services will ensure smooth deployment,” said Sandeep Girotra, Vice- President & Head of India region, Nokia Networks.

Under the contract, Nokia Networks will supply its Single RAN Advanced platform, based on its energy-efficient Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station. This multi-standard radio platform is optimal because it will also support Bharti Airtel in its TD-LTE rollout and pave the way to FDD-LTE in the near future.

In addition, Nokia Networks will deploy its Flexi Lite Base Station, a small all-in-one base station optimised for indoor and outdoor micro-cell deployments to provide the best coverage in densely crowded areas. Nokia will also supply its extremely compact, highly scalable and flexible multi-technology, all-IP multi-controller RNC (mcRNC).