Vodafone India steps up its game, gives 4G expansion contract worth Rs 3650 crore to Nokia

A contract worth up to $500 million for 4G deployment and expansion has been given to Nokia by Vodafone. The contract covers 10 of the country's 22 telecom zones.

As per several reports, Nokia will be deploying and expanding 4G LTE network for Vodafone India in Kolkata, Mumbai, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu-Chennai, Haryana, UP east ,West Bengal, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

Reportedly, the 4G base stations and other equipments for Vodafone’s network Karnataka, Kerala and Delhi circles are supplied by the Chinese equipment vendor Huawei.

“This move by Vodafone is to counter the threat from bigger rival Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, the new 4G player which is currently offering free services,” industry watchers told ET.

Recently, in last year's airwaves auctions, Vodafone India acquired multi-band 4G-capable spectrum across 1800, 2100 and 2500 MHz bands in all its key telecom circles for about Rs 20,280 crore. Vodafone India has already launched 4G services in 17 circles as had planned, and is now rapidly expanding 4G footprint within these circles.

Nokia has had a successful run so far in the country's 4G market, having already pocketed a 4G deployment and expansion contract worth $500 million from Bharti Airtel.