Nokia wins Converged Packet Core deployment deal from Bharti Airtel for 5G SA-readiness

Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia is deploying its Converged Packet Core solution for Bharti Airtel to make the second-largest Indian telco ready for 5G standalone (SA) deployment in the future, and evolve towards 5G-Advanced.

“This will help Airtel optimise its hardware footprint and reduce its cost per bit by utilising appliance-based Packet Core gateways, while maintaining the rest of the network elements in a cloud-native architecture,” said Nokia in a joint statement Tuesday.

The rollout also includes network automation in a multi-year deal that covers a majority of Airtel service regions across the country. The collaboration entails advancing autonomous networks by utilising generative AI for service orchestration and assurance, as per the statement.

Further, Nokia is deploying its Packet Core appliance-based and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) solutions for Airtel to enhance the network experience for the telecom carrier’s growing 4G and 5G customer base. The solution will help seamlessly integrate 5G and 4G technologies into a single set of servers.

Airtel will use Nokia’s automation framework to realise zero-touch service launch and efficient lifecycle management for core network functions to enhance its ability to deliver new services faster while reducing network operational costs.

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

“Nokia’s innovative Packet Core deployment architecture enables critical changes to our network quality and reliability for meeting the fast-rising growth in customer data requirements. This rollout further demonstrates our longstanding success in jointly collaborating to strengthen the overall Airtel customer experience,” said Randeep Sekhon, chief technology officer (CTO) of Airtel.

“Nokia and Airtel have a long-standing partnership and we are pleased to bolster its 5G SA readiness. Airtel’s use of Nokia’s Packet Core to build greater network agility and reliability demonstrates how we are both helping customers solve problems and furthering Nokia’s leadership position in the Core space, in India and around the world,” said Raghav Sahgal, president of cloud and network services at Nokia.

Nokia’s Swedish rival, Ericsson, recently won a deal from the Sunil Mittal-led telco to deploy 5G Core network solution and enable Airtel to seamlessly transition to a live 5G SA network. Ericsson will deploy its Signalling Controller, and roll-out 5G SA-enabled Charging and Policy solution in Airtel’s network.

Meanwhile, Nokia said it has an expansive core footprint in Airtel’s network and already provides several other core technologies including VoLTE (Voice over LTE), HSS (Home Subscriber Server), HLR (Home Location Register), UDM (Unified Data Management) and VoNR (Voice over New Radio), along with MANO (automated Management & Orchestration).