Nokia completes RailTel network upgrade across India

Nokia has announced the completion of an upgrade to RailTel’s National Long-Distance (NLD) Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network across India.

The upgrade includes the deployment of Nokia’s Carrier-Grade NAT (CG-NAT) and metro optical transport solutions to support high-speed, resilient intercity connectivity and meet RailTel’s expanding data needs, according to the company.

Nokia said the network enhancement uses its 1,830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) and advanced transponders to increase transport capacity while optimising the cost per bit. The deployment also integrates high-capacity Lambda transmission and express traffic lanes between cities, and reuses existing infrastructure and unused channel spectrum to boost network performance.

The project follows Nokia’s vendor-neutral, open-network approach to enable future technology integrations across RailTel’s optical footprint.

Integrated IP Routing for Enterprise Traffic

As part of the upgrade, Nokia has also integrated its 7750 Service Router (SR) series with Broadband Network Gateway (BNG) and CG-NAT capabilities. This integration is designed to help RailTel support both internal ISP and enterprise-grade traffic requirements under a single architecture. Nokia said this unified network design improves traffic resiliency between cities and aligns with RailTel’s long-term bandwidth expansion plans.

Sanjai Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director at RailTel, said the collaboration marks a step towards modernising its core and edge networks. “Through the integration of Nokia’s technologies with our infrastructure, we are positioned to achieve improved efficiency. These enhancements will help us deliver faster and more reliable services to our enterprise and broadband customers across India,” Kumar said.

Prashant Malkani, Head of India Sales for Network Infrastructure at Nokia, said the company’s optical and IP routing platforms were selected to support RailTel’s modernisation plans. “We have experience supporting open network architectures that can integrate into customer ecosystems, and our technology will help RailTel reduce costs and enhance operational efficiency,” Malkani said.

Nokia’s 7750 SR routers use its FP routing silicon and Service Router Operating System (SR OS), with capacity scaling up to 230 Tb/s FD and support for 800GE interfaces. The platform also includes integrated IP network security, line-rate encryption, and DDoS mitigation, as per the company.