The deal is part of Airtel’s expansion plan and will enable the operator to increase its 4G presence to these six new circles in India.
“With our commitment to build an efficient internet ecosystem in India, we continue to introduce new technologies and strengthen our existing capabilities,” said Abhay Savargaonkar, CTO at Bharti Airtel.
“Having already launched the high-speed 4G services across four circles of India, we are now looking at extending this enriching high-speed broadband experience to new circles on 1800 MHz band.”
Nokia Networks will also deploy TD-LTE on the 2300MHz band in two other circles in India.
“Our rich experience gained in deploying FDD-LTE and TD-LTE to operators around the globe will ensure a fast and smooth network roll-out,” said Sandeep Girotra, VP and head of India region at Nokia Networks.
“On top of that, our Flexi Zone solution will ensure the best possible LTE performance even in dense areas.”
The Finnish vendor will provide networking planning and optimisation services, network implementation, systems integration and hardware care, as well as its cloud-ready network management system, NetAct.
In November last year, Nokia Networks enhanced Airtel’s 3G network in the Mumbai, West Bengal and Bihar telecoms circles in the country.
