The Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel has selected Nokia’s CloudBand-based software products to power its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) network. Nokia stated that this network supports more than 110 million customers, making it the largest cloud-based VoLTE network in India and the world’s largest VoLTE service managed by Nokia.
According to the Finnish telecom gear maker, the deployment of cloud-based VoLTE will enable Airtel to provide its mobile customers with faster, more reliable and cost-effective call connectivity. Nokia’s solution, which has been deployed to cover all 22 telecom service areas in India, uses commercial, off-the-shelf IT hardware with cloud-based Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). Nokia noted that cloud-native VNFs consume far less power and space compared to traditional 2G or 3G circuit-switched legacy cores. With Nokia’s VoLTE platform, Airtel will be able to reduce its 3G network traffic and use the freed-up spectrum to deploy 4G / LTE services for higher speeds and increased capacity.
Bhaskar Gorti, President of Nokia Software and Nokia Chief Digital Officer, said, “Nokia is very pleased to expand our partnership and support Airtel’s digital transformation journey. Nokia’s carrier-grade cloud software solutions drive simplicity and flexibility and will further strengthen Airtel’s solid 5G network foundation and transition to innovative digital solutions that are customer and experience-centric.”
Additionally, Airtel will also deploy Nokia’s CloudBand infrastructure software to create new revenue opportunities for 5G and Internet-connected devices. CloudBand will allow Airtel to lay the foundation for 5G networks, deliver new digital services, and adapt network capacity to the changing consumption patterns in real-time and in a cost-efficient manner.
Randeep Sekhon, CTO of Bharti Airtel, said, “We are delighted to deepen our strategic partnership with Nokia to build a future ready and agile network. The country’s largest open cloud-based VoLTE network is a major milestone in Airtel’s journey. Our objective is to reap the benefits of cloud solutions to simplify our architecture and enable faster delivery of innovative services, ultimately delivering enhanced customer experience.”
