MWC 2018: BSNL signs pact with Nokia to roll out 4G service in 10 circles

State-owned telecom firm BSNL on Monday signed a pact with Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia to roll out 4G services in 10 telecom circles covering western and southern regions in India.

"We are really proud to have technology partner like Nokia with whom we are working in South and West Zone of the country, rolling out the latest single RAN Technology, and further moving towards 5G...," BSNL CMD Anupam Shrivastava said in a statement.

Nokia 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 technology that will be deployed by Nokia will help BSNL to save operational costs while supporting 2G, 3G and 4G subscribers in a single radio unit, the statement said.

"New VoLTE services will allow BSNLs 4G subscribers to experience HD-quality voice and faster call connections," it added.

As per Nokia MBiT Index 2018, released last week, 4G contributed to 82 per cent of data traffic in 2017 and the monthly 4G data usage per user was nearly 11 GB per user per month in India.

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

"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.