NEW
DELHI: Nokia Networks has bagged a $200-million, or about Rs 1,240-crore
contract from Bharti Airtel to build the country's first 4G network in
the 1800MHz band in six telecom circles.The mobile technology arm of Nokia Corporation and Airtel will soon announce the deal that will cover Mumbai, MP, West Bengal, Odisha, Punjab and Kerala circles, one person aware of the development told ET.
Both the companies have not responded to ET's queries as of press time.
4G, or fourth generation mobile communication technology , currently provides the fastest wireless internet connectivity in the country, with download speeds of up to 40Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps. At present all 4G networks in the country run on the 2300MHz band, which was auctioned by the government as broadband wireless spectrum (BWA) in the 2010 spectrum auctions, and use TDD-LTE technology.
Airtel's 4G network in the 1800MHz band will use the FDD-LTE technology that is older and more widely accepted globally than TDD-LTE.
The ecosystem of devices around TDD-LTE is very small, which has marred the spread of 4G services in the country so far.
In fact, Reliance Jio, the only operator to possess airwaves in the 2300MHz in all telecom circles in the country , has not even launched its services so far. Also, none of the operators has launched services in all the circles they possess 4G spectrum.
Airtel holds 20MHz of 4G spectrum in the 2300MHz band in each of the eight circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab and Maharashtra. It won a total of 97MHz of airwaves in the 1800MHz band across 15 circles in the last spectrum auctions.
The company plans to roll out high speed 4G networks in various circles using FDDLTE technology in the 1,800MHz band besides its existing TD-LTE rollout in the 2,300MHz band, as it tries to develop a pan-India 4G footprint.
Nokia Networks already manages Airtel's TDD-LTE network in Maharashtra and will also deploy its TDD-LTE network in Mumbai and Kerala.
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