| The deliveries have already begun and the project
is scheduled for completion before the end of 2004. "We appreciate
Nokia's deep understanding of the business and its approach in providing
flexible solutions. Nokia's global leadership in GSM/GPRS and its
proven technology roadmaps will put Idea at the forefront of providing
high quality and innovative mobile services to our customers,"
says Idea Cellular Limited CEO Vikram Mehmi.
Idea now operates in 11 circles across India and Nokia will now
expand Idea's GSM network for the Delhi and Andhra Pradesh circles,
while extending the present GPRS core of Delhi to four circles -
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Nokia has
been working with Idea since 1996, providing turnkey services for
the operator's GSM infrastructure over this period, according to
an official release.
"We are happy that Idea has selected Nokia as the sole supplier
of their GPRS network. Through this agreement, Idea's data network
capability will be enhanced to handle the expected growth in data
services whilst ensuring a smooth and efficient GSM evolution path,"
says Nokia Networks Asia Pacific country head (India and South Asia)
Ashish Chowdhary.
"Together with Nokia, Idea is well-positioned to provide high-quality
mobile services to its fast expanding customer base as the Indian
mobile industry grows at unprecedented rates," added Chowdhary.
The release also stated that under the GSM/GPRS expansion deal,
Nokia will supply the complete range of Nokia GSM/GPRS equipment
such as Base Station Subsystems, Switching SubSystems, GPRS Core
Network, Short Message Service System, Multimedia Messaging center
expansion and Nokia download solution. They will also provide the
Nokia Connect Site base station, which is part of the Nokia Connect
GSM solution for new growth markets. Nokia is also providing an
extensive set of services including IP planning support, network
element installation and commissioning well as maintenance services.
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