Vodafone Essar has completed a rapid service expansion into seven new regions across India. People living in or travelling to Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, North East and Orissa will now be able to use services provided by Indias second largest GSM operator. Nokia Siemens Network (NSN), Vodafone Essars existing infrastructure partner in 12 regions, undertook the new network roll out in just 10 months.
The planning and building of the seven networks was undertaken as in the first phase of a three year expansion contract awarded to NSN in 2008. Further expansion will carry on through 2010.
NSN has a strong track record in speedy network roll out, and in India alone, it sets up 5,000 base stations a month. With this contract, the company has emerged as the largest network implementation partner for Vodafone in India, with more than 80% of Vodafones subscriber traffic in the country flowing through infrastructure set up by NSN.
We are proud to partner with Vodafone Essar as it charts an aggressive growth strategy and are committed to helping it realize its goals, says C B Velayuthan, Head, Vodafone Customer Team, Nokia Siemens Networks. Indias vast geography and varied topology, in addition to the acute power shortage in remote areas, make network expansion a challenging task. Our Flexi Base Station and services capabilities are the ideal solution for service providers who want to achieve more, with less.