Bharti, Vodafone to partner in NLD, ILD services

Bharti Airtel has announced that in continuation of its strong relationship, it has entered into a comprehensive memorandum of understanding with Vodafone on a range of significant areas including infrastructure sharing, roaming and long distance services.

According to a release issued by Bharti to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday, the company will be preferred vendor of Vodafone for National Long Distance (NLD), International Long Distance (ILD) and leased line services.

Vodafone will also give 50 per cent of its in-bound international roaming traffic to the company for three years.

The two companies will also work on a comprehensive range of significant infrastructure sharing options including around 70,000 towers in India, enabling rapid network expansion to connect sub urban and rural areas across India.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman & managing director of Bharti Airtel, said, "We are pleased to welcome Vodafone and congratulate them on their Hutch acquisition. Today, the Indian telecom sector is one of the most sought after in the world and the bid is a strong endorsement of the government policy to promote the telecom sector."

"Bharti and Vodafone have enjoyed a very fruitful partnership and both companies will work with the industry towards connecting millions of people across India," the release added.

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