Finland's Nokia is in talks with Bharti Airtel about securing a multi-billion dollar contract to provide 5G telecom equipment to the Indian mobile operator, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson has already won a multi-billion dollar contract from Bharti Airtel, Reuters reported on Monday.

India last year had helped Nokia and Ericsson offset weakness in demand from US customers.

However, the volume of orders from India slowed down significantly.

Nokia, whose shares were up as much as 3 per cent on the contract report, will release third-quarter earnings on Thursday.

The deal with Airtel would be for Nokia's latest AirScale mobile radios that support upgrading an existing network to 5G-Advanced and reduces energy costs, according to the sources.

Nokia declined to comment. Bharti Airtel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Satcom spectrum

Telecom regulator TRAI is in the process of assessing satellite communication (satcom) spectrum allocation, amid a growing standoff involving billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk and Indian tycoons.

Anil Kumar Lahoti, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), on Wednesday stated that a consultation process is underway, and all viewpoints will be carefully considered before a decision is made.

"We have received a reference from the Telecom Department, and we have initiated a consultation process in response to that. The process covers the issues referred to Trai by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)," Lahoti said at an event on the sidelines of the India Mobile Congress (IMC).

"We will consider all inputs and views received during the consultation process and come out with our considered recommendations."

Upbeat Musk

Elon Musk thanked telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia for not agreeing with Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal on auctioning spectrum for satellite services.

Reacting to Scindia's statement that satellite spectrum will not be auctioned, Musk, in a post on X, said, "much appreciated! We will do our best to serve the people of India with Starlink".