Bharti Airtel awards 5G FWA, Wi-Fi 6 deal to Nokia, Qualcomm

Bharti Airtel has awarded a deal to Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia and American chipmaker Qualcomm to expand its 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) and Wi-Fi 6 to millions of Indian citizens.

Under the deal, Nokia will supply its 5G FWA outdoor gateway receiver and Wi-Fi 6 router, equipped with Qualcomm Modem-RF and Wi-Fi 6 chipsets, Airtel said on Tuesday.

Airtel will leverage Nokia’s FastMile 5G outdoor receivers, which are tailored for multi-dwelling units and capable of serving two households concurrently, which will lead to a reduction in connection expenses.

Airtel will implement Nokia’s Wi-Fi 6 access point within residences to enhance the in-home experience. This solution offers intelligent mesh capabilities and self-optimising network features, ensuring that customers can enjoy an exceptional broadband experience throughout their homes.

Nokia’s 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and Wi-Fi 6 access point devices will be produced in India, as per the telco’s statement.

The companies, however, did not disclose financials of the deal.

Airtel has expanded its 5G FWA service, Xstream AirFiber, to over 2,000 cities which is helping the nation’s second-largest telco to increase its total addressable market for fixed broadband (FBB) services. This is since 5G-driven FWA helps cover fiber-dark locations.

Bharti Airtel is looking to leverage the sharp expected growth in India’s home broadband market and boost revenues amid rising consumer appetite for its 5G-based fixed wireless access (FWA) services, the telco’s top leadership told analysts in the recent third-quarter earnings call.

They added that Airtel is attempting to catch up with the competition (read: Reliance Jio) by improving its FWA footprint, and sweetening its content (OTT) offerings while expanding the sales channels beyond digital and direct-to-consumer (D2C) by tapping into the retail channel.

The Sunil Mittal-led telco is rolling out nearly 1.9 million home passes per quarter, and has estimated the industry-wide FBB subscribers to potentially double to 80-90 million from 45 million presently.

“This collaboration with Nokia and Qualcomm underscores our dedication to delivering an exceptional network experience for our customers. We are confident that Nokia’s 5G Fixed Wireless Access and Wi-Fi 6 Access Point solutions will help provide high-speed internet to underserved areas and fulfil the need of a superior and uninterrupted broadband experience,” said Randeep Sekhon, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Bharti Airtel.

“With our 5G FWA and Wi-Fi 6 solutions built in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, Bharti Airtel will be able to provide customers with fiber-like speeds which are becoming essential in today’s digital economy,” said Sandy Motley, President of Fixed Networks, Nokia.

“We are excited to be part of this new generation of products by Bharti Airtel and Nokia which are designed to deliver optimized performance, coverage, and user experiences,” said Rahul Patel, Group General Manager, Connectivity, Broadband & Networking, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Nokia, along with its Swedish rival Ericsson have also supplied 5G radio access network (RAN) equipment to Airtel and Reliance Jio.

Both gear makers have recently won an extension on the deal for deploying 4G and 5G equipment across key Indian cities and states. Late last year, Vodafone Idea (Vi), too, awarded multi-year $3.6-billion deals to Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung for deploying 5G and modernising 4G network from March 2025.