Airtel’s 5G and broadband service will be better, contract given to Nokia, Qualcomm

Bharti Airtel, one of the big telecom companies, has given a contract to Nokia and Qualcomm to improve its 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) and WiFi solutions. Under this contract, Finland’s Nokia’s 5G FWA and Wi-Fi 6 access point devices will be manufactured in the country as per the ‘Make in India’ mission.

However, the value of this contract is not known. This will increase the availability of broadband in areas where fiber connectivity is limited or not available. Nokia will supply its 5G FWA outdoor gateway receiver and Wi-Fi 6 access point to Bharti Airtel. These devices will use Qualcomm’s Modem-RF and Wi-Fi 6 chipset.

Bharti Airtel has prepared to increase the coverage of its 5G network. The company has planned to increase the coverage to meet the increasing demand for data. Along with this, Bharti Airtel has also decided not to make new investment in 4G network. Recently, the company’s Managing Director, Gopal Vittal had said, “The expansion of 5G coverage is going on as per plan. At the end of the last quarter, we had a 5G base of 12 crore subscribers. The share of 5G smartphones in total smartphone shipments has increased to more than 80 percent. We are benefiting from this.” He had said that Bharti Airtel’s capital expenditure has decreased in the current financial year. In the last quarter, the company has installed about 5,200 towers and about 16,300 mobile broadband stations to expand its network and improve customer experience.

Recently, Bharti Enterprises had said that it is ready to start satellite telecom service. Approval from the central government is awaited for this service. Billionaire Elon Musk’s company Starlink has also sought permission from the government to launch satellite internet service. Rajan Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, had said, “We are waiting for spectrum allocation. Our two stations are ready in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. We will launch this service after getting permission.”