Nokia, BSNL to roll out 4G, Voice over LTE services in India

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New Delhi: Nokia and BSNL have signed a network modernization agreement to support BSNL’s launch of 4G and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services in western and southern regions of India.

Nokia said that it will deploy the technology in 10 telecom circles in India - Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana - serving large cities, businesses, technology and tourist hubs – and nearly 38 million BSNL subscribers.

The network deployment will include Nokia Single RAN software, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), Session Border Controller (SBC), CloudBand, Monetization Solution, Performance Manager, IP/MPLS and Wavence microwave technologies.

The Nokia MBiT Index 2018, released recently, said that that 4G contributed to 82 percent of data traffic in 2017 and the monthly 4G data usage per user was nearly 11 GB per user per month.

“We are pleased to continue our longstanding relationship with BSNL on this important project in India. The deployment of our technologies will enable BSNL to launch exciting new voice and data services, satisfying growing demand in India,” Sanjay Malik, head of India Market at Nokia, said.

Nokia said that deployment of the Nokia Single Radio Access Network (RAN) software will simplify network installation, allowing BSNL to save operational costs while supporting 2G, 3G and 4G subscribers in a single radio unit.

"Hunger for consistent change and innovation provides the fuel to drive us towards excellence. With this in our core, we are striving to offer the best in class network speed, coverage and capacity using the best technology available," said Anupam Shrivastava, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL.

In 2017, Nokia and BSNL signed an MoU to explore and develop the applications of 5G for the India market.