Nokia signs LTE expansion deal with Vodafone Idea Limited

India-based mobile operator Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) has signed a multi-year agreement with Nokia to expand VIL’s LTE coverage to new service areas. Under the agreement, VIL will deploy Nokia’s Massive MIMO, small cells and its Single RAN Advanced equipment and solutions across its LTE network to enable subscribers to access high-bandwidth applications and services.

VIL is the result of a recent merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular to form the largest carrier in India. Vishant Vora, CTO at VIL, said in a statement the company is “undertaking the world's biggest telecom network integration in India.” 

RELATED: Reliance Jio will speed up 5G deployments to keep ahead of competitors

Nokia's Single RAN Advanced is a solution that simplifies multi-radio networks installation and maintenance, reduces total cost of ownership and helps to future-proof networks. The solution is also able to cut base station site carbon dioxide emissions by 70% and can reduce total cost of ownership by 30% when compared to an LTE overlay solution, according to Nokia

VIL will supplement its macro network with Nokia small cells in order to improve coverage and capacity in indoor and outdoor environments, using HetNet architecture. VIL will also deploy dynamic spectrum sharing (DSR) for efficient use of spectrum, and will deploy UBR radios to help lower opex per site.  

RELATED: Nokia: xRAN provides chance to differentiate against competitors

“Extensive use of UBRs, DSRs, massive MIMOs and HetNets are key to our plan in this integration exercise, and we are very happy to partner with Nokia to deploy these futuristic, next generation technologies to prepare a future-proof network for the digital era,” Vora said.