Nokia has bulldozed a bigger road into India by working with Vodafone Idea's enterprise arm, Vi Business, to fuel enterprises' digital transformations.
Vodafone and Vi Business got out of the starting stalls last year by launching SD-WAN in India. The expanded collaboration will include new services and technologies such as fixed wireless access, private wireless access and GPON.
The partnership is a timely move into India for Nokia. According to research by McKinsey, the IT and digital communications market in India will double in size by 2025 to contribute between $335 billion and $435 billion in GDP.
India boasts the second-largest internet user base in the world, with consumption expected to grow with the continued advancement of internet infrastructure, smartphone usage and the penetration of 4G and 5G.
“At Vodafone Idea, we believe that enterprises need to fully utilize the power of digital infrastructure to serve their customers better," said Vodafone Idea's Abhijit Kishore, chief business officer, in a statement. "As organizations embark on their digital journey, Vi Business is delighted to partner with Nokia to provide them with best-in-class IT and telecom infrastructure to grow their business.
"This association will combine the strengths of both companies to deliver new and exciting services to our enterprise customers, thus opening more opportunities of collaboration and helping enterprises in the digital transformation.”
Over two years ago, Vodafone India merged with Idea Cellular, to form Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL). Vodafone currently holds a 45.1% stake in the combined entity and Aditya Birla Group holds a 26% stake. Along with Reliance Jio and Airtel, Vodafone Idea is one of India's leading telecom service providers.
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