Canadian-based telecom giant Nortel has picked up a 500-million-dollar contract to set up telecommunication networks in eastern and southern India, utility Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) said Wednesday.

State-owned BSNL had offered the order.

Nortel will deploy end-to-end GSM (global system for mobile communications) and GPRS (general packet radio service) mechanisms to provide wireless voice and data services, it said.

BSNL chairman A.K. Sinha said the project was likely to be completed in the first half of 2005.

India is among the fastest growing telecommunications markets in the world, with teledensity at around eight percent and expected to grow to 15 percent by 2010, according to a national telecom regulator.

BSNL has a network of more than 45 million lines covering 5,000 towns with more than 43.5 million telephone connections across the country.