Bharti Airtel is likely to stop taking 4G equipment from the Chinese vendor ZTE in Punjab. The telco is looking to replace ZTE with the Finnish supplier Nokia. As per a report from ET Telecom, Nokia stands a chance of becoming the main equipment supplier for Bharti Airtel in the Punjab circle. Nokia and Airtel are currently in the stage of finalising things for the contract. Once both the parties come to an agreement, Nokia will replace ZTE as the main supplier of 4G equipment for Bharti Airtel in Punjab. More details on the story ahead.
ZTE to be Replaced by Nokia as Main 4G Equipment Supplier for Bharti Airtel
Following in the footsteps of Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel is aiming to decrease its dependency on the Chinese gear suppliers for providing telecom services. The telco is now going to replace ZTE with Nokia for the Punjab circle.
Apart from Punjab, Bharti Airtel takes 4G equipment from ZTE in Kolkata and Haryana circles. The other Chinese vendor, Huawei has also been replaced by the telco in two different circles. Now Airtel works with Huawei in two locations only namely UP (West) and Karnataka instead of four earlier.
Bharti Airtel would also look to replace the Chinese vendors from the other existing locations very soon as well. The contracts would go to Nokia and Ericsson respectively. The telecom operator had recently announced that both Ericsson and Nokia have partnered with the company to develop 5G equipment within India. This would allow for the development of Indian economy.
Business for Chinese vendors in India has decreased. ZTE now provides equipment and gears in three circles of India for Vodafone Idea (Vi) and in six circles for the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
Airtel isn’t planning to award any fresh contracts to the Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE in the current scenario. This is to increase data security for Indian users. As per the analysts, the Indian telecom industry would require at least four years for completely removing the Chinese equipment from their networks.
