Nokia partners with Airtel for deploying its SRAN solution in nine circles in India, boosting the latter company’s network capacity

India: Bharti Airtel announced a multi-year agreement worth USD 1 billion with Nokia to deploy SRAN solution in nine circles including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, and West Bengal. Under this agreement, three lakh radio units will be deployed across spectrum bands including 900 Mhz, 2100 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, 2300 Mhz, and this is expected to be completed by 2022.

SRAN solution, which stands for single radio access network will assist Airtel in reducing network complexities and improve cost efficiency while managing the 2G, 3G and 4G networks. Nokia will be responsible for the planning, deployment and installation of the project, that will be executed through the cloud-based delivery platform by Nokia. As part of the deal, the company will also provide AirScale BaseBand, AirScale Radio Access and NetAct OSS solutions, which help in monitoring network efficiency.

CEO and President at Nokia stated that, “We have worked closely with Bharti Airtel for many years and are delighted to extend this long-standing partnership further. This project will enhance their current networks and deliver best-in-class connectivity to Airtel customers but also lay the foundations for 5G services in the future.”

According to TechSci Research, India is the second biggest telecom advertise in the world and the country is projected to have 920 million unique mobile subscribers by 2025, which will include 88 million 5G connections. Also, data traffic in the country increased by 47% in 2019 due to surge in 4G data consumption,  Airtel considers this as an lucrative opportunity and this USD 1 billion deal will help company to boost its network capacity, garner more customers and deploy 5G infrastructure in case of early 5G roll out in the country.

According to the published report by TechSci Research, “Global 5G Infrastructure Market, By Communication Infrastructure (Small Cell, Macro Cell, Radio Access Network (RAN) and Distributed Antenna System (DAS)), By Core Network Technology (Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) and Fog Computing (FC)), By Application (Healthcare, Automotive, and Others), By Company and By Geography, Forecast & Opportunities, 2014-2024”, global 5G infrastructure market is expected to reach USD 33.14 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of over 50% during the forecast period. Major factors driving the growth of the 5G infrastructure market include growing demand for high speed & better network coverage, growing adoption of IoT and big data analysis, surging demand for connected vehicles & devices across the globe and increasing investments by the governments. Furthermore, 5G is a key enabler for Internet of Things (IoT) as it offers a platform to connect several devices to the internet.

According to the recently published report by TechSci Research, “Global Voice over WiFi Market By Technology (CSFB, VolGA, SVLTE), By Voice Client (Integrated VoWiFi, Separate VoWiFi, Browser VoWiFi), By Device Type (Smartphone, Router, Wireless Modem, Others), By End User (Residential, Commercial), By Region, Forecast & Opportunities, 2025”, global voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) market is expected to witness robust growth during forecast period. With the increase in the number of internet users every year, almost every mobile communication is done via WiFi, consequently increasing its market share across the globe. Moreover, the VoWiFi market is also driven by the problem of the absence of WiFi coverage indoors. Additionally, the users tend to shift to VoWiFi, when they face poor connectivity issues inside offices, homes, shops, etc., as it ensures convenient calling.