Nokia in talks with Airtel for multi-billion-dollar 5G contract: Report

Finland's Nokia is in talks with Bharti Airtel about securing a multi-billion-dollar contract to provide 5G telecom equipment for the Indian mobile operator, which is expanding its network, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson already won a multi-billion-dollar contract from Bharti Airtel, Reuters reported on Monday.

India is the world's second-largest smartphone market where companies such as Airtel, Reliance's Jio and Vodafone Idea have been spending billions of dollars to upgrade their networks to 5G.

Their orders last year had helped Nokia and Ericsson offset weakness in demand from U.S. customers. However, the volume of orders from India has slowed down significantly after a growth spurt last year.

The deal with Airtel would be for Nokia's latest AirScale mobile radios that support upgrading an existing network to 5G-Advanced and reduces energy costs, according to the sources.

Nokia declined to comment. Bharti Airtel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

One of the sources called the potential Nokia deal a “routine and ongoing arrangement” with network vendor partners.

Nokia will report its third-quarter earnings on Thursday. In the second quarter, Nokia reported an 18% drop in net sales, mainly because of slowdown in demand in India.

Alongside Nokia and Ericsson, Airtel is also in talks with Samsung about buying 5G equipment, another source said.

Samsung has been trying to grow its network equipment business, but has so far lagged Nokia and Ericsson. Samsung won its first 5G contract with Airtel in 2022. India has blocked its mobile carriers from using 5G telecom equipment made by China’s Huawei.