Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker, said on Thursday it had signed a contract to expand or build new GSM mobile phone networks in nine of Hutchison's 13 license areas in India.
While Nokia declined to comment on the value of the deal, analysts said it was likely to amount "to less than 200 million euros (240 million dollars)".
According to the contract Nokia will expand Hutchison's existing networks in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, as well as in the city of Chennai.
In addition it will set up GSM networks or improve coverage in West Bengal, western Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and eastern Uttar Pradesh, the Finnish group said.
"The potential and scale of the Indian telecom market is enormous, which is why we are gratified to be playing a major role in the progress of mobile communications in this country," Rajeev Suri, in charge of Nokia Networks India, said in a statement.
This is the second deal in India - designated one of its key growth areas - that Nokia has announced in the past weeks, and shows that the Finnish group "is doing quite well there", Karri Rinta, analyst with Evli bank, told AFP.
At the end of May it landed a 275-million dollar network expansion deal with Bharti, which serves seven million customers in India under the AirTel brand.
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