Telecom Lead India: One more Indian telecom operator is
set to roll out LTE services.
Tikona Digital Networks is likely to become the next
telecom player to launch TD-LTE services early next year.
Tikona has license for offering broadband wireless access
(BWA) services in five circles such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP-East, UP-West and
Himachal Pradesh.
Bharti Airtel was the first telecom operator to launch
TD-LTE services in India in Bangalore and Kolkata this year.
Reliance Industries’ Infotel Broadband is likely to start
high speed broadband services in the next 12 months.
Aircel recently said it is planning to launch TD-LTE
services this year. But telecom equipment players are cagey about Aircel’s 4G
entry as the company is yet to announce its technology partners.
Augere recently announced that it is unlikely to go ahead
with its plans after selecting Ericsson as its LTE partner in India.
Economic Times reported that Tikona will buy LTE 4G
equipments worth $200 million.
Telecom equipment players such as Ericsson, Nokia Siemens
Networks, ZTE, Huawei, Samsung, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, etc will be aiming for
bagging this Rs 1100 crore contract.
Out of this, ZTE has already assisted Airtel to launch
its LTE services in Kolkata, while Huawei supplied equipments to Airtel for its
Bangalore launch.
Nokia Siemens will be supplying telecom gear to Airtel
for launching its LTE services in the Maharashtra telecom circle.
Tikona is founded by Prakash Bajpai. Goldman Sachs, Oak
Investment Partners and Everstone Capital Advisors own 71 percent stake in
Tikona.
Tikona spent Rs 1,058 crore to bag BWA airwaves in five circles.
It will initially launch 4G data services beginning next year in Gujarat and
Rajasthan.
Tikona, which already offers Wi-Fi data connectivity to
home consumers as well as small enterprises, hopes to combine both LTE and
Wi-Fi in future plans. The combined service will offer data connectivity
through existing Wi-Fi networks indoors, such as homes and offices. When the
same consumer moves outdoors, these services will be offered via LTE.
