INFRASTRUCTURE /

Reliance Jio, ZTE in talks for network modernatization

NEW DELHI: Chinese firm ZTE is eyeing a 20% revenue growth this year on support of mobile phone operators’ network modernization activities and government’s Smart City projects.ZTE had posted revenue of $500 million (Rs 3,250 crore) in India across telecom, enterprise, device and software business verticals.

The Shenzhen-headquartered company is in discussions with telecom service operators such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications for their network advancement initiatives, and is promoting Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) as a future-ready technology for broadband access.

“We are in discussions with various carriers including Reliance Jio for our GPON technology which we have already implemented for India’s top carrier Bharti Airtel,” Peng said.

GPON is ZTE’s core offering which it has implemented for various operators worldwide including China Mobile. GPON uses optical wavelength division multiplexing that allows a single fiber for both downstream and upstream data and supports integrated services that require high bandwidth such as IPTV and live TV broadcasts.

A query to Reliance Jio did not elicit any response.

“We are in discussions with various service operators such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications for their network modernization as well as fourth-generation (4G) technology rollouts,” the executive said.

Sunil Mittal-driven Bharti Airtel has last year committed an investment of Rs 60,000 crore under Project Leap over a period of three years for mobile and home broadband network modernization to offer differentiated customer experience.

Aditya Birla group’s Idea Cellular, which is India’s third-biggest telco has increased capex guidance to Rs 6,500 crore for FY 2016, from Rs 3,500 crore earlier.

The Chinese equipment major has deployed 4G network in Bengaluru for Idea Cellular, and maintains Bharti Airtel’s network in three circles – Haryana, Punjab and Kolkata and launched TD-LTE-based network for Aircel over 2300 MHz band spectrum.

Service providers are today more focused to serve end consumers and the hyper competition is driving them to manage networks efficiently, China’s largest-listed telecom equipment company said.

The gear maker is also expected to conclude Phase- 7 upgrade of the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for 2G and 3G network that would potentially help BSNL to add 15 million additional lines and remove blind spots within the network.

World’s fourth-largest telecom gear company is also diversifying into a full-service Information Communications Technology (ICT) player to strategically tap Smart City opportunities and has recently signed various MoU with the state governments of Haryana, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

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