India's Bharti Airtel has contracted Huawei to help it expand its TD-LTE network into the Delhi region in time for a September launch.
Huawei will build the operator's 4G network in Delhi, one of the nation's most valuable data markets, Press Trust of Indiasaid, citing a company source.
Airtel was the first Indian operator to go live with LTE services with a launch in the Kolkata circle in April 2012. The company has since launched services in cities in the Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra circles respectively.
Airtel won the spectrum in these four circles during India's BWA auction in 2010, after bidding a combined 33.14 billion rupees ($542.4 million).
The company subsequently acquired access to spectrum in Delhi and three other circles with the $165 million acquisition of a 49% stake in Qualcomm's 4G venture in India in 2012. The venture had been set up to acquire TD-LTE spectrum during the 2010 auction.
Vodafone India will meanwhile probably have to soon sell off its 4.4% stake in Airtel, due to the terms of India's new unified telecom licenses.
The new unified license rules reportedly prohibit any company owning spectrum to hold a beneficial interest in any company holding spectrum in the same area.
Three 2G permits held by Vodafone India, and two held by Airtel, are due to expire in late 2014. After this point, the operators will have to migrate to the new unified licenses, and will have a year to sell off any holdings that breach the new rules.
Vodafone's 4.4% stake in Bharti Airtel is worth an estimated $1 billion.