Bharti Airtel awards $400-million African network expansion contract to Huawei

India's top mobile operator Bharti Airtel today said that it has signed a $400-million (Rs1,803 crore) contract with China's Huawei Technologies to modernise and expand its 2G and 3G mobile networks in Africa.

Under the deal, Shenzhen-based Huawei will design, plan, modernise and expand Bharti Airtel's 2G, 3G and GSM networks in Africa using GSM and HSPA technologies, which will be equipped for Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.

The infrastructure operations and maintenance would also be managed by Huawei.

Manoj Kohli, Bharti Airtel's CEO (International) and joint managing director, said, ''This partnership will allow us to focus on delivering better customer experience as we leverage the global network management expertise of Huawei. It also lays the foundation for the introduction of 3G HSPA wireless broadband services."

"We understand Airtel's strategic requirements and will match their fast development to achieve a win-win business success between both parties," said Sun Yafang, chairperson of Huawei's board.

Last year Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom company had acquired Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co, also known as Zain, for $10.7-billion to become the world's fifth largest mobile phone services company.

Bharti Airtel provides mobile communications services across 16 markets in Africa: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

It has over 200 million customers (November 2010) across its operations, including 50 million in Africa.