Nokia bags multi-terabit pan-Indian optical network deal from Bharti Airtel

Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia has bagged a pan-India deal from Bharti Airtel Ltd to deploy a next-generation optical transport network that will enhance the telecom firm's bandwidth multifold.

According to sources aware of the deal, the data transmission capacity of a core network layer of Bharti Airtel that sends data from one city to another will double and its optical fibre network capacity to transmit data will grow up to four times from the current capacity.

"As part of the agreement, Airtel will utilize Nokia's 1830 PSS-x OTN switches in its National Long-Distance Network connecting major cities across India," Nokia said in a statement.

The technology will help the Airtel network from disruption caused by optical fibre cable damage as the transport layer will reroute the traffic through other cable links.

"The launch of 5G networks and the push for broadband connectivity across India is increasing demands for Communications Service Providers (CSPs), including augmentation of backhaul transport for denser 5G mobile networks, wholesale connectivity for new segments like smart grids, datacenter interconnect (DCI) and other business services," Nokia said.

Earlier, Airtel had deployed Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei's optical transmission technology but due to restrictions on the company in the absence of a trust telecom tag, the telecom operator has roped in Nokia for the expansion of its network.

"As a world leader in OTN, our technology will help Airtel to increase the capacity and features of Bharti's optical transport network to meet growing bandwidth demand driven by the enterprise and hyperscaler segments. It will also provide the service level performance to meet the strict SLAs (service level agreement) from Airtel customers," Nokia India, Head of Optical Network Business Centre, Chandan Kumar said.