Nokia and Bharti Airtel expand 4G deployment across nine circles in India to meet increased capacity demands

Access to news sites, video content, online gaming and social media fuelling an increase in mobile data usage

• Agreement between Nokia and Bharti Airtel will enhance coverage and access in urban, suburban and rural areas within nine circles in India

Nokia and Bharti Airtel are to expand the deployment of 4G technology across nine circles in India as the country prepares itself for the next boom in mobile data demand.

 by Suman Gupta

17 October, 2016,India - In the 2016 MBiT Index Nokia reported an eightfold increase in India's 4G LTE device ecosystem for 2015, while other statistics show that access to news, video content, gaming and social media accounts for 60 percent of India's total mobile data traffic - and it is rising.

To address this growth, Bharti Airtel has acquired more mobile broadband spectrum. The new agreement with Nokia will see it expand the deployment of 4G technology in three new circles in addition to six circles it already serves, enabling launch of new services that started in September. Bharti Airtel will be able to provide improved coverage and faster mobile Internet access, while laying the foundation for the delivery of enhanced video services and other on-demand applications.

About the deployment:

• Nokia will deploy its 4G FDD-LTE & TD-LTE technology across nine of Bharti Airtel's circles in India including the regions of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rest of Bengal, Odisha, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Kerala and UP East, serving major cities such as Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Patna and Siliguri
• Nokia will also expand the operator's 3G network in eight of the territories as part of this rollout and modernization of legacy 2G BTS
• The rollout uses Nokia's radio access with Single RAN technology for FDD-LTE and TD-LTE
• Nokia will provide professional services including network integration and network planning and optimization

Bharti Airtel said in a statement: "We are pleased to continue to leverage Nokia's leading radio access technology and services expertise to expand 4G capacity and coverage and further increase the quality of service for subscribers."

Sanjay Malik, head of India Market at Nokia, said: "We have a long history of working with Bharti Airtel and with this latest agreement we have become the largest supplier of 4G for the company. This network expansion will provide the capacity, coverage and speeds the company needs to meet the next wave of data demand in India."

About Nokia:

Nokia is a global leader in the technologies that connect people and things. Powered by the innovation of Nokia Bell Labs and Nokia Technologies, the company is at the forefront of creating and licensing the technologies that are increasingly at the heart of our connected lives. 

With state-of-the-art software, hardware and services for any type of network, Nokia is uniquely positioned to help communication service providers, governments, and large enterprises deliver on the promise of 5G, the Cloud and the Internet of Things.http://nokia.com