Samsung Networks has bagged a new 4G LTE network expansion contract from its sole customer in India, Reliance Jio, to increase the telco’s 4G network penetration from around 75% to 99% by Diwali this year.Also, the Korean telecom gear maker is also providing network technologies such as massive multiple-input, multiple-output (massive MIMO), and network virtualisation to the 4G entrant to help it improve network speeds and customer experience.Both the companies have also teamed up to roll out India’s first narrowband Internet of Things (IoT) network in the country. The commercial network is currently live in Mumbai, India.”They [Jio] are our sole partner and they will continue to be that way. We have got a significant LTE expansion contract from Jio about a few weeks ago. With this, Samsung continues to remind as the sole supplier for both RAN and core equipment in the Jio network,” Srinivasan Sundararajan, network business division head, Samsung India, told ET.Samsung and Jio didn’t provide the value of the new contract.Samsung is the sole 4G equipment provider to Jio, having bagged successive contracts to supply equipment for over 140,000 sites for pan-India coverage last year, ET had earlier reported. Both Airtel and Vodafone have over two lakh telecom sites each, according to estimates.Jyotindra Thacker, president of Reliance Jio, said that Samsung is deploying around 10,000 sites per month that will help Jio reach 99% LTE penetration by Diwali period. “We keep adding sites and location wherever possible while it’s small cell or the macro site for 99% coverage and capacity,” he said, but didn’t share the overall cell site count for the telco.Sundararajan said that the network expansion will enable Jio to be the first and the only operator in India to enable LTE services across the country, even to the remote parts. “This will also surpass the 2G coverage when we finish this expansion. Along with this coverage, Samsung is also providing tools like automated antenna tilt optimisation under the expansion, which enables significantly better user experience as well user satisfaction,” he said.Along with the large expansion, several new technologies are being rolled out over the next few quarters, starting with massive mimo, and network virtualisation. “This all is enabling the network to be even more 5G ready as we look ahead,” said Sundararajan.The Samsung executive said that massive mimo is already deployed commercially in certain spots of the country, but not in mass numbers.”It is largely in the urban areas. Today we’ve deployed it predominantly where the congestion is very high because that’s where we believe the immediate value will be but it is still not in a mass number,” he said.Jio’s Thacker said that massive mimo will increase speeds, and customers will see a massive improvement soon.Samsung is also providing small cells to Jio in the country. Sundararajan said that the telco is significantly using Samsung small cells, along with another vendor, Airspan.