Comments
Chinese telecom vendor Huawei has bagged about $400-million order from Bharti Airtel for modernising and expanding its 2G and 3G network infrastructure in African countries.
As per the agreement, Huawei will be responsible for designing, planning, modernisation and expansion of Bharti Airtel’s networks in Africa, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
Huawei would also manage infrastructure operations and maintenance, it added.
According to sources, the deal size is close to $400 million. Officials in both camps declined to comment on the size of the deal.
Last year, Bharti Airtel completed the acquisition of Zain’s African operations in 16 countries for $10.7 billion. In FY’12, Airtel Africa will make a capital expenditure in the range of $1-1.2 billion.
For the quarter ended March 31, 2011, Airtel Africa had a loss of Rs 87.8 crore, while revenues stood at Rs 4,181.5 crore during the period. It has over 44 million customers across the 16 African nations with average revenue per user of $7.2 per month.
The agreement will enable Airtel Africa to rapidly expand its mobile services and mobile broadband footprint in the region, it said.
“This partnership will allow us to focus on delivering better customer experience as we leverage the global network management expertise of Huawei. It also lays the foundation for the introduction of 3G HSPA wireless broadband services,” the Bharti Airtel CEO (International) and Joint Managing Director, Mr Manoj Kohli, said.
Under the agreement, Huawei will deploy its complete GSM and 3G product portfolio, working with GSM and HSPA technologies, which will further be equipped and prepared for Long Term Evolution (LTE).
The modernisation and optimisation of networks will give Bharti Airtel an opportunity to lower its operating expenditure and roll-out innovative customer-centric products and services at affordable prices, it said.
“We understand Airtel’s strategic requirements and will match their fast development to achieve a win-win business success between both parties,” Mr Sun Yafang, Chairperson of Huawei’s board, said.
Bharti Airtel has operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, with over 223 million customers at the end of April 2011.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.