NSN signs $150 million deal with IDEA

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has won a $150 million contract from IDEA Cellular to build and provide managed services for a Greenfield GSM network in Bihar.

NSN, as part of the three-year contract, would supply GSM / GPRS and Short Message Service Center (SMSC) equipment, network implementation and roll out project management service for third party products and managed services.

The rollout will see NSN deploy the latest state of art equipment like flexi BTS, mini-ultra base stations, Release 4 architecture, media gateways and MSS servers. The network will be ready for commercial operations by early 2008, subject to spectrum availability.

NSN will also provide IDEA Cellular with GPRS and SMSC equipment in the Mumbai circle.

“Today’s announcement is yet another step in our efforts to build a pan India GSM network and take mobility to the huge untapped consumer base,” said Sanjeev Aga, managing director, IDEA Cellular.

“This contract reinforces our long standing partnership with IDEA and further strengthens our position as the dominant GSM equipment vendor to them,” said Michael Kuehner, head of India Sub-region, Nokia Siemens Networks.