Bharti Airtel and Nokia Siemens ink $900 million deal

Our Corporate Bureau
03 July 2007

Chennai: Private telephone company Bharti Airtel Limited, and Nokia Siemens Networks singed a MoU for a $900 million expansion contract across Bharti Airtel's mobile, fixed and intelligent network platforms.

Under the agreement, Nokia Siemens will help expand Airtel's networks over two years and its international calling card prepaid service over three years. The agreement covers Airtel's mobile, fixed and intelligent network platforms, Nokia Siemens said in a statement.

In the first multi platform network contract of its kind to be awarded in India, Nokia Siemens Networks will expand Bharti Airtel's GSM network in eight circles; its national long distance and international long distance network with 1.8 million next generation network (NGN) ports and its international calling card prepaid service capacity by 4.5 million news users.

The GSM and NGN expansions are planned over two years and the international calling cards expansion over three years.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Manoj Kohli, president and CEO of Bharti Airtel and Simon Beresford Wylie, CEO, Nokia Siemens Networks.