Bharti Airtel may ask Huawei to handle 4G rollouts in Delhi, Mumbai

[mmadhankumar]

India's top telecom company Bharti Airtel is likely to ask China's Huawei to handle 4G network rollouts in the country's biggest data markets of Delhi and Mumbai, which were among the four regions where it acquired US chipmaker Qualcomm's wireless broadband permits last year, executives aware of the matter said.

Huawei may initially supply 6,000-odd base stations (BTSs) for the first wave of Airtel's high-speed wireless data services rollouts in Delhi and Mumbai. At current prices of roughly $25,000 or Rs 13.5 lakh per base station, the initial cost of rolling out 4G networks in both metros would be $150 million (Rs 810 crore approximately ). The final deal size could run in excess of $200 million (Rs 1,100 crore approximately) if Huawei is also asked to manage these networks.

This will be Airtel's first 4G network deal announcement after Gopal Vittal took charge as chief executive. Bharti was the first Indian telco to launch fourth-generation services about a year ago and it had announced plans to widen its 4G footprint to 8 telecom zones after it acquired 49% in Qualcomm's wireless broadband entities in Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala for Rs 924 crore. It had earlier shelled out Rs 3,314.36 crore for wireless broadband airwaves in Kolkata, Karnataka , Punjab and Maharashtra.


Read More: Bharti Airtel may ask Huawei to handle 4G rollouts in Delhi, Mumbai - The Economic Times