Finnish vendor also signs patent agreement with Amazon for video technologies, ending all pertinent litigation in all territories
First up, Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) has chosen Nokia to upgrade and expand its optical transport network across some metro and circle locations in India. The upgrade will use Nokia’s optical switching technology to increase capacity for 4G’s growing data traffic. It will also improve flexibility and efficiency, the vendor says, and “boost VIL’s 5G rollout”.
Late starter
VIL launched 5G earlier this month in Mumbai, and will expand coverage to five more major cities. The struggling operator said that it has sufficient capital to cover 100 cities and towns across 17 circles over the next three years, and hopes 5G services will help reduce churn.
Market leaders, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel, said they had 170 million and 120 million 5G customers respectively at the end of December, both having launched 5G services in October 2022.
The network overhaul includes deployment of Nokia’s 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) platform, and CDC-F 2.0 wavelength switching technologies. In addition, Nokia will also implement its photonic service engine (PSE-Vs) optics, iDense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and optical transport network (OTN) to ensure connectivity even in peak times.
Avoiding forklift changes
Nokia says its solution will enable VIL to scale its network from C-band to C+L band as required, avoiding “forklift changes in platform or architecture,” thereby “reducing operational costs”. The project will also help cut energy consumption.
“We have been a long-standing partner for [VIL] in India, built on our trusted performance in network infrastructure. Our cutting-edge 1830 PSS technology will ensure their readiness to deliver multi-terabit data growth and support upcoming quantum-safe services for their enterprise customers,” said Sang Xulei, VP and Head of Network Infrastructure at Nokia Asia Pacific.
“This…milestone with VIL…cements Nokia’s leadership in India’s optical transport market and commitment to enabling next-generation connectivity in India,” he added.
Patent agreement with Amazon
Nokia has also announced it has signed a patent agreement with Amazon covering the use of Nokia’s video technologies in Amazon’s streaming services and devices. The agreement resolves all patent litigation between the two, in all jurisdictions. The terms – including the financial terms – of the agreement are not being made public.
“We are pleased to have reached agreement on the use of Nokia’s video technologies in Amazon’s streaming services and devices,” said Arvin Patel, Chief Licensing Officer New Segments, at Nokia.
Nokia claims to be a leader in the development of video and multimedia technologies, including video compression, content delivery, content recommendation and aspects related to hardware. In the past 25 years, the vendor has created almost 5,000 inventions that enable multimedia products and services and continues “to play a leading role in multimedia research and standardization”.
Nokia adds that is has invested more than €150 billion in R&D since 2000, including over €4.5 billion in 2024 alone in technologies including cellular and multimedia.
