INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - MAY - JUNE 2007
The Month that was ...

IDEA SIGNS $500M NETWORK EXPANSION DEAL WITH NOKIA

IDEA Cellular, India's sixth largest operator, has inked a $500 million network expansion contract with Nokia Siemens. The two year deal will double Idea's capacity in six of its eleven existing circles Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (east), Uttar Pradesh (west), Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

The contract will allow Idea to expand reach to 6,000 new centres besides the existing areas.

The deal covers supply and services of GSM equipment, intelligent network, value added services and circuit packet core equipment. "Deployment of products and technology will be done in India as soon as they are globally launched," said Nokia Siemens India sub region head Ashish Chowdhary.

Nokia Siemens will deploy flexi base transceiver stations, mini ultra base stations, Release 4 architecture, media gateways and MSS servers. This is Nokia Siemens first contract in India after the merger of Nokia Networks with Siemens Communications was completed on April one this year.

"Our product portfolio and services capabilities will redefine the entire approach of providing network that are affordable and quality rich," Mr Chowdhary added.

On roll out of cellular services in Mumbai, Mr Aga said the company had started project work. "The final launch depends on allocation of spectrum," he added. Besides Mumbai, Idea has also bagged licence for operations in the Bihar circle. When operational, they will expand Idea's footprint to 13 circles.

Idea scrip closed at Rs 115.95, up 1.09%.

In February this year, Idea had signed a threeyear contract with Swedish equipment giant Ericsson for GSM expansion in the Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh telecom circles. Ericsson is providing radio access, microwave transmission and next generation, mobile softswitch network architecture to Idea. Idea plans to have around 1,137 cell sites in the Uttar Pradesh east) circle by March 2008.

Nokia has been Ericsson's principal supplier for Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana Circles while erstwhile Siemens was catering to Idea's requirements in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh (east) and Uttar Pradesh (west) circles. These vendors also provide maintenance support for mobile networks.

Last year, Bharti had signed a $1 billion contract with Ericsson towards design, planning, supply, installation, commissioning and upgrading of Airtel network in 15 telecom circles.