Nokia Secures Pan-India Deal with Airtel to Boost Network Capacity and Reliability

22 Nov 2023 , 01:03 PM

Nokia secures a pan-India deal from Bharti Airtel to deploy a next-gen optical transport network, significantly boosting bandwidth. The agreement involves the use of Nokia’s 1830 PSS-x OTN switches in Airtel’s National Long-Distance Network, connecting major cities across India.

The core network layer’s data transmission capacity is set to double, and the optical fibre network’s data transmission capacity will increase up to four times from the current level. The technology implementation aims to prevent network disruptions caused by optical fibre cable damage by rerouting traffic through alternative cable links.

Airtel’s move to Nokia follows the earlier deployment of Huawei’s optical transmission technology. This shift is due to restrictions on Huawei, prompting Airtel to opt for Nokia for network expansion.

With the rise of 5G networks and increased demand for broadband connectivity in India, Nokia’s OTN technology supports the augmentation of backhaul transport for denser 5G mobile networks and other services like smart grids and datacenter interconnect.

Nokia’s technology is expected to enhance the capacity and features of Bharti’s optical transport network, meeting the growing bandwidth demands from enterprise and hyperscaler segments. The deployment aims to fulfill strict SLAs (service level agreements) from Airtel customers.

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