Nokia wins multi-billion dollar contract from Bharti Airtel for 5G equipment
Nokia has secured a multi-billion dollar contract with India’s Bharti Airtel, one of the country’s leading telecom operators, which is expanding its 5G network. The deal with Airtel would be for Nokia’s latest AirScale mobile radios that support upgrading an existing network to 5G-Advanced and reduces energy costs, according to the sources.
- Ericsson won a multi-billion dollar contract from Bharti Airtel, Reuters reported on Monday. Airtel is also in talks with Samsung about buying 5G equipment, a source told Reuters.
- Samsung has been trying to grow its network equipment business, but has so far lagged Nokia and Ericsson. Samsung won its first 5G contract with Airtel in 2022. India has blocked its mobile carriers from using 5G telecom equipment made by China’s Huawei.
Backgrounder:
India is the world’s second-largest smartphone market where telcos such as Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea have been spending billions of dollars to upgrade their networks to 5G. Bharti Airtel’s 5G market share in India is over 90 million subscribers, as of June 2024. Airtel and Reliance Jio are the only two telcos in India that offer 5G services.
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The Nokia-Bharti Airtel deal is indicative of the intensifying competition among telecom operators and equipment manufacturers in India’s 5G market. For Nokia, the agreement represents a significant rebound and consolidation of its presence in India, amidst previous challenges and the competitive pressures exerted by rivals such as Ericsson and Samsung.As India stands on the cusp of a 5G revolution, the successful execution of this deal could serve as a blueprint for similar agreements, thereby accelerating the pace of 5G deployment across the nation.
In July 2024, Nokia successfully completed its first 5G non-standalone (NSA) Cloud RAN trial with Bharti Airtel (Airtel) in India. The project supports Airtel’s strategy of delivering a superior customer experience using high-performing networks. It is expected to deliver higher levels of service innovation, higher network automation, flexibility and efficient scaling of resources to support end-user services.
The trial took place in an over-the-air environment utilizing 3.5 GHz spectrum for 5G and 2100 MHz for 4G. Data calls were successfully performed with commercial user devices over Airtel’s commercial network achieving a throughput of over 1.2 Gbps. The trial utilized Nokia’s RAN Software for virtualized Distributed Unit (vDU) and virtualized Centralized Unit (vCU) running on x86 Hardware with a CaaS layer. The trial also used Nokia’s L1 acceleration that will enable enhanced power efficiency and support Nokia’s anyRAN benefits of using common RAN software with the purpose-built part of the network. This will enable common functionality and performance across the hybrid network.
The trial marks a significant milestone in Airtel’s overall cloudification journey and supports the operator’s ambition of bringing cloud networking benefits, such as scalability and agility, to their network.
https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2024/07/22/nokia-and-bharti-airtel-complete-successful-5g-nsa-cloud-ran-trial-in-india/
Ericsson gets new 5G contract from India’s Bharti Airtel, sources say. It comes after Ericsson got part of a $3.6 billion contract last month for selling 5G equipment to India’s Vodafone Idea. Ericsson shared the contract with Nokia and Samsung.
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/ericsson-gets-new-5g-contract-indias-bharti-airtel-sources-2024-10-14/
RCR Wireless Nov 21, 2024 Update:
Nokia said it has secured a multi-year extension deal from Indian operator Bharti Airtel to deploy 4G and 5G equipment across key Indian cities and states. Under the terms of the new deal, Nokia will deploy equipment from its 5G AirScale portfolio including base stations, baseband units and the latest generation of Massive MIMO radios, all powered by its ReefShark System-on-Chip technology.
The Finland based network equipment vendor noted that these solutions will enhance Airtel’s network with additional 5G capacity and coverage. Furthermore, Nokia will modernize Airtel’s existing 4G network with multiband radios and baseband equipment, which can also support 5G.
Airtel will also be leveraging Nokia’s MantaRay Network Management for intelligent network monitoring and management that uses AI-based tools covering digital deployment, optimization and technical support, the vendor added.
Gopal Vittal, vice chairman and managing director at Bharti Airtel, said: “This strategic partnership with Nokia will future proof our network infrastructure and provide customers with unparalleled user experience along with a network that will be eco-friendly to minimize environmental impact.”
“This strategic agreement further solidifies our long-standing collaboration with Airtel and our footprint in India. Our AirScale portfolio and AI-based services will enhance the energy efficiency of Airtel’s network, enabling premium 5G capacity and connectivity,” said Pekka Lundmark, president and CEO of Nokia.
Nokia and Airtel had previously launched the so-called ‘Green 5G Initiative’, aimed at improving the energy efficiency of Airtel’s network and reducing carbon emissions.
Last month, Ericsson had secured a new 5G contract for selling 5G equipment from Bharti Airtel.
The new contract comes after Ericsson got part of a $3.6 billion contract for selling 5G equipment to India’s Vodafone Idea.
Airtel is currently using equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to provide 5G services.
Bharti Airtel ended its first fiscal quarter of 2025 on June 30, with a total of 90 million 5G subscribers, the telco’s managing director, Gopal Vittal, said during a previous conference call with investors.
The executive noted that the company had ended the previous fiscal quarter with 72 million customers in the 5G field.
The executive highlighted that Bharti Airtel is expecting to launch Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) via 5G Standalone (5G SA) architecture. “We are planning to go live with SA technology for FWA within [fiscal] Q2. It should be noted that our core, transport and radio networks are all SA-ready,” Vittal added.
Bharti Airtel previously confirmed that it has started re-farming its existing mid-band spectrum with the main aim of accommodating the growing traffic demand on its 5G network. To accommodate the growing number of customers migrating to its 5G network, Airtel said it is in the process of re-farming its mid-band spectrum to expand 5G services on its 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.3 GHz bands across India.
The Indian operator had secured a total of 19,800 megahertz of spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands in a previous auction carried out by the Indian government in July 2022. In June, the telco secured additional spectrum to expand its 5G offering.
https://www.rcrwireless.com/20241121/featured/nokia-5g-extension-airtel