Bharti Airtel, one of the leading private telecommunications companies in India, has taken a big step towards expanding broadband coverage in India. Juniper Networks has just announced that it will be partnering with Bharti Airtel to help the telco in reaching more areas of India with broadband services. Bharti Airtel has built a strong FTTH presence in India with its sub-brand Airtel Xstream Fiber. The telco has already reached over 430 towns in the country. Airtel further plans to reach over 2,000 cities in India, covering 30 million households with broadband coverage in the next two years.
Juniper Networks to Upgrade Airtel’s Broadband Network
The partnership between both companies will see Juniper Networks taking charge of supplying, installing, and providing support for upgrades to the MX Series routers and line cards. Juniper Networks will also ensure that with its broadband network gateway (BNG), Airtel’s subscribers and services are managed in the most efficient manner. Juniper will further provide Airtel with carrier-grade NAT (CGNAT) solutions for ensuring that secure encryption across the telco’s network is maintained. Juniper and Bharti Airtel have a long-standing relationship of 15 years. Juniper will be helping Airtel with network transformation and support with developing 5G use cases as well and not just be limited to help with FTTH broadband services expansion. Airtel Xstream Fiber has already become a prominent brand in India. Airtel’s broadband networks are also used by corporates, and the telco has specially curated a set of broadband plans for enterprise customers. Thus the expansion of broadband network would further allow Bharti Airtel to grow its enterprise business across the country. The telco offers broadband plans ranging from 40 Mbps speed to 1 Gbps. All of Airtel’s fiber broadband plans offer users unlimited data (3.3TB). The partnership with Juniper should enable Airtel into expanding broadband coverage aggressively in the coming years.
