Jio To Sign 5G Gear Deal with Nokia For $1.7 Billion

CIOTechOutlook Team | Thursday, 06 July 2023, 02:46 IST

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Reliance Jio Infocomm is expected to ink a contract with Nokia of Finland for the procurement of 5G network equipment this week for about $1.7 billion (13,980 crore).Senior executives from the telecom division of Reliance Industries and the banks financing the purchase are expected to attend the contract signing at Nokia's headquarters close to Helsinki, according to the individuals.
 
This will be in addition to the $2.1 billion in equipment that the largest telecom provider in India is purchasing from Ericsson in Sweden as it plans to roll out 5G mobile broadband services throughout the nation by the end of this year.Jio is receiving support from a number of international banks, including HSBC, JP Morgan, and Citigroup, to finance these 5G equipment contracts with Nokia and Ericsson through syndicated offshore loans totaling about $4 billion. Jio reportedly called major foreign banks on July 1 to secure loans to pay for the Ericsson 5G contract.
 
The Mukesh Ambani-led telco has chosen the independent mode — it will not be dependent on the current 4G network — for its nationwide rollout of the next-generation communication technology. It is the exclusive owner of 5G airwaves in the highly effective 700 MHz band. For the network rollout, it is primarily collaborating with European vendors like Ericsson and Nokia.
 
Finnvera, a European export credit agency, will provide the international lenders with the guarantees in exchange for granting offshore loans to Jio. These assurances are intended to increase lenders' comfort levels and will lower total funding costs.
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