India Telecom

October 15, 2004
BSNL selects Nokia to expand GSM/EDGE, GPRS network

NEW DELHI -- Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. has selected Nokia to expand its GSM/EDGE and GPRS network in North India in a major deal valued at several million dollars. Nokia will deploy four million lines across towns, cities, villages and all major state and national highways in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh (east and west circles), Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.

As a part of the agreement, Nokia will supply core and GSM/EDGE and GPRS radio network equipment, including base station subsystems, switching subsystems, intelligent network, GPRS core network, SMS system, MMS center expansion and Nokia download solution. Nokia 5140 handsets are also included.

A. K. Sinha, CMD, BSNL, said: "BSNL's vision is to be India's largest cellular operator with a truly national network footprint providing world class services to consumers countrywide. The recent tender for network expansion is testimony of our commitment to bring affordable access to Indians anywhere, anytime across the country."

Ashish Chowdhary, country head, networks, India and South Asia, Nokia, added: "Nokia is proud to collaborate with BSNL on this significant GSM network expansion exercise. This deployment will enable BSNL to continue offering world-class network quality and services to its end consumers. This deal underscores Nokia's commitment to India, fulfilling our promise to bring high-quality equipment and advanced services to India's mobile world. With this deal, Nokia becomes an equipment supplier to all five leading GSM operators in India."

Contact:
Nokia
Tel: +91-11-5177-9006
jay.bakshi@nokia.com
www.nokia.com