Vi Awards Next Phase 4G Expansion and 5G Deployment to Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung

Vi, the telecom JV between UK’s Vodafone and India’s Aditya Birla Group and the 3rd private telco of India has chose South Korean Samsung, Finland's Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson for 4G expansion and 5G rollout in certain circles for next 3 years for $3.6 billion. This is probably first time Vi cut deals with Samsung for network equipment, while Nokia and Ericsson being Vi's long term partner. With these deals, Vi is replacing Chinese vendors (Huawei and ZTE) on its networks.

In the deal worth Rs 13,500 crore, Nokia will replace the previous vendor (mostly Huawei) in Chennai/Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh where Vi generated more than 50% of revenue. Apart from these 2 key circles, Nokia will deploy its equipment in Mumbai, Gujarat, Haryana, UP-East, UP-West, West Bengal and Kolkata. It's a big blow to Huawei, and ensures growth for European vendors. Ericsson will deliver equipment 10 circles - Delhi, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Odisha, Maharashtra, Northeast, Assam, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh and Samsung will supply to 3 circles - Karnataka, Punjab and Bihar. 

Indian Operators Making AI-Powered Filters to Take Out Spam

On 25th September, 2024 Airtel announced AI powered solution to curb spam calls and texts over its 4G network. Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bharti Airtel explained in the press conference that 400 data scientists of Airtel worked for last 12 months to develop this two-layered shield. This network driven, AI powered solution uses a proprietary algorithm to identify and classify spam calls and texts very fast - this shield processes 1.5 billion messages and 2.5 billion calls in 2 milliseconds. 

5G - How to Monetize?

Image created by Aria - AI by Opera

Every time, since the beginning of wireless communications and faster internet India stood as a back bencher compared to global standards - either India joined late or could not deliver what was promised. For eg, 3G/HSPA/HSPA+ was first launched in 2001 in Japan by Docomo and Airtel came with 3G in 2011, which took nearly 1.5 year to go mainstream. And it was never affordable at all.

Cut to 2016, country's richest man Mukesh Ambani backed Reliance Industries unleashed Jio to Indians with 4G-LTE. Wireless data became affordable, cluttered out non-serious players from the market and incumbents responded to Jio's move. 

Brookfield backed Altius Becomes Largest Tower Company in India

Canada based Brookfield-lead consortium takes control of ATC India via Data Infrastructure Trust (DIT), an Infrastructure Investment Trust backed by Canada's Brookfield Asset Management alongwith other investors including British Columbia Investment Management Corp (BCI) and GIC Pvt. Ltd (Singapore) for an enterprise value of Rs 18,200 crore ($2.2 billion). It marks Boston based American Tower Corp's exit from India. 

With this buyout Brookfield would get approx. 76,000 towers from ATC India and its tower portfolio goes to 2,57,000 – making it largest tower company of India (also globally, outside China). Just positioned from 1st to 2nd, Bharti Airtel backed Indus Towers have 2,25,910 towers as of June 2024. 

BSNL 4G Goes Live Across Kolkata

State owned telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is now busy in roll out of 4G networks across the country. In Kolkata circle, BSNL starts rolling out 4G network since May 2024. 

However me, living in suburbs of Kolkata did not find BSNL 4G signal in May, June, July, August. However since the begining of September 2024 I am getting BSNL 4G signals on my mobile phones. 

Checked in: Barrackpore (700 120), Kamarhati (700 058) 

BSNL 4G: ETA Unknown

On 15th August, 2024 BSNL announced that the state-run telco has deployed more than 15000+ 4G BTS across the country under Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative - the image you can see on the left was shared from BSNL's X (formerly Twitter) handle. 

However the target was 20,000 BTS installation. At the same time 'The Hindu Business Line' pointed out that DoT's Tarang website shows BSNL has only 10,000 active 4G BTS. 

BSNL's 4G service has been a long-due. Airtel was first Indian telecom operator to launch 4G services in 2012 in Kolkata. Spectrum and choosing equipment vendor were many of few roadblocks for the PSU. 

BSNL 5G May Come Earlier: Indian Start Ups Plan Trials on BSNL's 700MHz Spectrum

Government backed telecom service provider - BSNL, who, though late, is presently busy with 4G roll out across the country, may bring 5G before the expected date. Home grown Tejas and TCS backed BSNL's 4G network core can be upgraded to 5G easily. 

Airtel started 4G in 2012, and Jio brought it in 2016, but both companies launched 5G commercially in 2022. BSNL is just gearing up for 4G roll out in almost middle of 2024. Considering Airtel's entry in 4G space, BSNL 4G is just 12 years late. But recent tariff hike by Airtel, Jio and Vi made the customers to look into BSNL's plans and many are porting to BSNL, despite having only 3G offering in most places.