The three-year-contract would expand Bharti-managed GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks in eight Airtel circles, which includes Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Bihar, Orissa, Kolkata, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, a company statement said.
Under the contract, Nokia will provide managed services and expand Airtel networks to cover all towns and cities in the eight telecom circles, it said.
The network monitoring operations will be carried out from Nokia's state-of-the-art global network services centre in Chennai, the statement added.
Nokia will also deploy Bharti's WAP solution across its national network to enhance its mobile packet core network capabilities, which will enable easy usage of data services.
"Our partnership with Nokia will provide us with the latest technology and expertise to drive growth in the latent market in eastern India and rapidly expand our coverage in Western parts of India," Manoj Kohli, president Bharti Airtel said.
Nokia will also provide consulting services and integrate the WAP (wireless application protocol) gateway into a multi-vendor environment and deploy the latest radio and core network equipment based on Bharti's capacity requirements, delivering a cost-efficient rollout of on-demand capacity.
