Vodafone Idea has awarded contracts worth about ₹30,000 crore to Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung for the supply of 4G and 5G network equipment for three years, the company informed the exchanges on September 22.
The deal is the first step towards the roll-out of the company’s ₹55,000 crore ($6.6 billion), three-year capex plan announced earlier.
“Vodafone Idea has concluded a mega, about ₹30,000 crore ($3.6 billion), deal with Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung for supply of network equipment over a period of three years. The capex programme is directed towards expanding the 4G population coverage from 1.03 billion to 1.2 billion, launching 5G in key markets and capacity expansion in line with data growth,” the company said in a statement.
The supplies against these new long-term awards will start in the coming quarter. The top priority for the company is to expand the 4G coverage to 1.2 billion Indians, the statement added.
