Motorola deploys GSM networks across South India

Motorola Inc. has deployed its GSM communications network (BSNL) in South India. The network has a capacity of up to 1.4 million subscribers and is India's single largest GSM wireless network deployment for a region, covering 417 towns, cities, villages and all major state and national highways across the four states of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

Motorola won the $170 million contract from BSNL in the last quarter of 2001. The network deployment includes civil works and infrastructure - basestations, switches, intelligent network, billing platform, services and project management, terminal devices, and subscriber identity module (SIM) cards.

"Motorola has played an instrumental role in supporting India's telecom revolution. We have ensured that the network includes the latest GSM technology features and we are confident that BSNL's network today is comparable to the most advanced systems internationally," said Pramod Saxena, country head, Motorola India. He added, "South India is one of the country's fastest growing cellular regions and our network not only has the largest footprint but also is scalable to serve the growing number of subscribers."