Nokia on Monday announced that it has bagged a cloud deal from Bharti Airtel under which the Finnish telecom maker’s software products are powering telco’s Voice over LTE (VoLTE) network in India.

Airtel VoLTE serves over 110 million users across the country, making it the country’s largest VoLTE network in India and the largest Nokia-run VoLTE in the world.

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Airtel supports over 110 million customers, which makes it “the largest cloud-based VoLTE network in India and the largest Nokia-run VoLTE in the world,” a statement by Nokia said.

Airtel has deployed India’s largest open cloud-based VoLTE network with Nokia software products, the statement said adding the cloud-based VoLTE deployment allows Airtel to provide its mobile customers faster and more reliable, cost-efficient call connectivity.

The solution, which will cover all 22 telecom service areas in India, uses commercial ‘Off-the-Shelf’ IT hardware with cloud-based Virtual Network Functions (VNFs), consuming much less power and space compared to the traditional 2G/3G Circuit Switched legacy core, it said.

The solution enables Airtel to free up spectrum by ramping down its 3G network, allowing the operator to use the freed-up radiowaves to deploy 4G/LTE services for better speed and capacity.

As part of its cloudification strategy, Airtel will also deploy Nokia’s CloudBand Infrastructure Software with the aim to create new revenue opportunities for 5G and internet-connected devices, it said.

CloudBand will enable Airtel to lay the foundation for 5G networks and deliver new digital services with greater agility and ensure a reliable and high-performing network for delivering improved customer experience.

“CloudBand is an open, scalable, flexible platform that will allow Airtel to adapt network capacity in accordance with changing consumption patterns in real-time and in a cost-efficient manner,” the statement added.

Randeep Sekhon, CTO of Bharti Airtel, said, The country’s largest open cloud-based VoLTE network is a major milestone in Airtel’s journey. Our objective is to reap the benefits of cloud solutions to simplify our architecture and enable faster delivery of innovative services, ultimately delivering enhanced customer experience.

Commenting on the development, Bhaskar Gorti, President of Nokia Software and Nokia Chief Digital Officer, said, Nokia’s carrier-grade cloud software solutions drive simplicity and flexibility and will further strengthen Airtel’s solid 5G network foundation and transition to innovative digital solutions that are customer and experience-centric.