Nokia Siemens bags Rs 300cr deal from Aircel

Nokia Siemens Networks has announced that it has won Rs 300 crore contract

from Aircel, to build and operate a greenfield GSM network in Kolkata. Its first

contract from Aircel includes supply of GSM/EDGE equipment, implementation,

project management and managed services, such as operating and maintaining the

network infrastructure. Nokia Siemens Networks will deploy Flexi base stations,

mini-ultra base stations, 3GPP-based mobile softswitching solution including MSC

Servers and Media Gateways PDH, SDH, Nokia Siemens said in a statement.



The network will be supported by the multi-technology, multi-vendor NetAct
network and service management system, and will be ready for commercial

operations by December 2007.

Sandip Das, CEO, Maxis and Aircel director, said, "The Kolkata rollout

completes our east/north-east geographic footprint, besides lending us its

strategic commercial importance in the region."

Rohit Chandra, CEO north and east, Aircel, said, "Our partnership with

Nokia Siemens Networks will provide us with the latest GSM technologies such as

the multi-radio Flexi base station platform that will not only help us provide

services today but will also makes our network ready for 3G and WIMAX services

as and when the regulation permits."

"This contract is special as it is our first contract with Aircel,"

said Ashish Chowdhary, head India sub-region, Nokia Siemens Networks. "This

will not only help them in achieving OPEX savings but also allow them to focus

on their customers' acquisition and service strategies from the first day of

commercial operations."