Sterlite to build Airtel's optical fibre network

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel has selected homebred gear vendor Sterlite Technologies to build a modern optical fibre network across 10 telecom circles. The 5G-ready optical network will enable the Sunil Mittal-led telco to deliver better customer experience through enhanced scalability, reduced latency, and improved bandwidth, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The companies did not share any financial details.

The development follows Airtel's recent partnership with ITI Ltd, a PSU manufacturing telecom and defence equipment, for the roll out of FTTH network in eight circles in the country. The ITI deal involves laying of optical fibre backbone for providing broadband connectivity. The time period for execution order will be three months. "This 5G-ready and high capacity network will enable us to provide faster delivery of new services, while delivering an enhanced user experience," Randeep Sekhon, CTO at Bharti Airtel said.

The densely fiberised, future-ready network will also form the foundation for many next-gen services such as 5G, FTTH, IoT, enterprise networks, and Industry 4.0. Sterlite Technologies said it has been a long-term partner to Airtel in the optical connectivity space and in this project, it will closely work with Airtel to design and build a network.