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Nokia Siemens bags $900 m Bharti deal

Staff Reporter

Airtel to expand GSM networks in new territories

— Photo: R. V. Moorthy

EXPANDING REACH: Simon Beresford Wylie (right), CEO, Nokia Siemens Networks, and Manoj Kohli (left), President and CEO, Bharti Airtel, exchanging documents after signing a memorandum of understanding in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Nokia Siemens Networks to execute $900 million end-to-end network expansion project.

Under the two-year project, covering eight telecom circles, Nokia Siemens Networks would help Airtel expand its GSM network in new territories.

Bharti Airtel President and CEO Manoj Kohli and Nokia Siemens Networks CEO Simon Beresford-Wylie signed the MoU.

The contract includes network planning, implementation and project management, handling of local logistics and materials as well as system integration for the base station sites.

Stating that the mega expansion plan would enable Airtel to rapidly expand its geographical footprint to rural India and increase its overall network capacity, Mr. Kohli said: “The expansion and integration exercise across mobile and fixed networks will help us in augmenting our service delivery capacity.”

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Beresford-Wylie said: “ This contract establishes us as the leading integrated partner across Bharti’s networks. We have the experience and expertise in delivering integrated solutions and services and will enable Bharti Airtel to tap new market opportunities.”

Under the project, Nokia Siemens Networks will deploy 18 lakh ‘next generation network’ ports across Airtel’s national long distance and international long distance networks. Besides deploying the latest state-of-the-art GSM equipment, it would install some of the components in other countries for optimised support of international traffic.Similarly, the three-year international calling card services expansion will see Airtel more than quadruple its capacity and adequately address its calling card business expansion to tap more international markets.

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