Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has inked a $700 million 2.5G network expansion deal with Bharti Airtel, while Huawei vows to increase its Indian revenues to $3.5 billion this year.
NSN and Huawei are battling it out for second spot in India’s mobile infrastructure market, which is led by Ericsson.
NSN said it would boost the capacity of Bharti’s 2.5G network by 50% in eight circles - Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh, Bihar & Jharkhand, Orissa, Kolkata and West Bengal.
Bharti Airtel CEO-designate Sanjay Kapoor said the expansion would take the operator deeper into rural India and improve the end-user experience.
NSN says the project will result in improvements to network capacity and spectral efficiency. It said it would ensure that Bharti’s core and transport networks were 3G-ready to enable a fast rollout of 3G services.
Meanwhile, Chinese rival Huawei – which also has network contracts with Bharti – hopes to increase its revenues in India by $1.2 billion this year over 2009.
“This year, we are looking at more than $3.5 billion [in revenues],” Huawei India executive director for strategy and marketing, Lester Herbert, told the Economic Times.
“Apart from new networks and 3G technology, we can swap out equipment and revamp transmission networks,” he said.
The report says Huawei will invest $500 million in India over the next five years, with plans to increase its R&D staff at its facility in Bangalore from 2,000 employees to 5,000 by 2015.