Bharti Airtel has awarded Nokia with a fresh contract for expanding the presence of 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) in India. Under this contract, Nokia will supply Airtel with its 5G FWA outdoor gateway receiver and Wi-Fi 6 access point, utilising Qualcomm Wi-Fi 6 and Modem-RF chipsets. This will enable Airtel in expanding the reach of high-speed broadband network in areas where fiber is hard to deploy. Bharti Airtel is already planning to shift the entire FWA capacity to its 5G SA (standalone) networks for which the work has been ongoing for several quarters now.
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Nokia will provide Airtel with its FastMile 5G outdoor receivers. The advantage of using these receivers is that they are tailored to serve multiple households at the same time. This would allow the telco in reducing connection expenses in the medium-to-long term. There are high-gain antennas present in these receivers that help in enhancing broadband access over extended distances while efficiently managing radio resources. Further, these receivers can easily be installed over walls, poles, or balconies as they utilise the Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) technology.
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Inside the residences of the customers, Airtel will integrate Nokia's Wi-Fi 6 access point. Nokia's 5G FWA and Wi-Fi 6 access point devices will be produced in India and packaged in fully recyclable materials. This is in line with the India government's 'Make in India' intiative.
Randeep Sekhon, CTO of Bharti Airtel, said, "This collaboration with Nokia and Qualcomm underscores our dedication to delivering an exceptional network experience for our customers. We are confident that Nokia's 5G Fixed Wireless Access and Wi-Fi 6 Access Point solutions will help provide high-speed internet to underserved areas and fulfil the need of a superior and uninterrupted broadband experience."
