BSNL bringing 'Smart Telecom Poles' to India with help of Nokia

BSNL is committed towards driving the connectivity agenda. This is why its selected Nokia for smart pole deployment across India.

According to Nokia press release:

Nokia has been selected by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to support the transformation of India's cities through intelligent infrastructure. Nokia will supply, install, commission and maintain the Smart Telecom Poles across India in all of BSNL's telecom circles. Under the contract, Nokia will also integrate the poles with smart LED lighting systems, CCTV cameras, digital billboards and environmental sensors that provide strong revenue generation potential for the operator. The smart pole has been designed for emerging markets and built in India based on Nokia's global services expertise.

The Indian urban landscape is evolving, with government and city administrations gearing up to ensure the safety and security of citizens and provide them a better quality of life. BSNL, in line with the Indian government's Smart Cities Mission, is exploring and taking the lead to digitalize cities.

With its Smart Telecom Pole and services expertise, Nokia will help BSNL provide access to mobile connectivity and smart solutions for citizens while ensuring the poles meet the aesthetic and spatial needs in modern cities. Nokia will optimize the telecom infrastructure to provide a shared, secure and scalable platform that ensures the best use of urban resources and prepares BSNL for the needs of new technologies such as IoT and 5G.

The pole can be adapted to diverse geographical environments and climate conditions. It also houses a custom-designed power backup solution to provide continuity of services during power outages.

Back in June, BSNL issued a tender for supply, implementation and maintenance of smart pole with smart light, environmental sensor, advertisement panel, and surveillance camera for smart city. There is no direct link but can easily be found via search. Here were some of the requirements they were looking for.

Finally, I noticed the following picture being used by some websites (example) along with the announcement.

I am not sure if this is Nokia pole. This looks like the 'Multi Utility Pole' from Vizag (Visakhapatnam) smart city project.

Smart Poles to be installed at 50 locations in Vizag City under Vizag Smart City Project. #VisakhapatnamSmartCity #Vizag @GVMC_OFFICIAL @jm_hari #SmartPoles pic.twitter.com/fOABZ2N3eT

— Visakhapatnam Smart City (@vizag_smartcity) January 8, 2018

Will share more info when available.

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• Small Cells in the Lamp posts
• KDDI to test 5G with base stations built in Street Lights

Top 5 posts for 2017

Here are the top 5 posts (in descending order of popularity) for 2017:

1. Flying Small Cells are here...
2. Telefonica's LTE Nano Small Cell
3. Small Cells are growing in India
4. Ericsson Radio Dot: Evolution and Technical information
5. Antennas for Small Cells and C-RAN (note, it was posted in 2016)

Related posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: Top 10 posts for 2017 and some other 3G4G info
• 3G4G Small Cells Blog: Top 5 posts for 2016
• 3G4G Small Cells Blog: Top 5 posts for 2015
• 3G4G Small Cells Blog: Top 5 posts for 2014

Small Cells are growing in India

Its been a long time since I looked at small cells (femtocells) in India. Things have changed significantly in these last 8 years. India now has second highest number of mobile phone users (1.2 billion), just after China. Free and cheap data has given rise to consumers who want to do more on their phones than just call and WhatsApp.

I recently came across a presentation by Paul Senior, Airspan in UK Spectrum Policy Forum workshop on Spectrum Sharing in 3.8 - 4.2GHz Band. This presentation provides interesting insight into Reliance Jio Small cells deployment and also provides much more details of the Sprint MagicBox.

The presentation is embedded below: