Airtel with Nokia or Nokia with Airtel

Airtel is the leading operator in India with over 52 million subscribers. It operates the GSM network - has upgraded to GPRS and EDGE. There is no 3G yet in India, mainly because of policy issues, i.e., government issues.

Nokia is the leader in handsets in India. It caters to everyone - right from the bottom of the pyramid with INR 1,100 (USD 27) handsets to the rich & the famous with INR 30,500 (USD 760).

Recently I saw an ad on TV where it says "Get an Airtel connection on your Nokia". That got me wondering who is paying for the ad. Airtel, Nokia or both?

For Airtel, its a good deal.

For Nokia, not sure if they are benefitting or loosing. Today everyone gets a Nokia and decides which connection to get - Airtel, Vodafone or Idea. This is what I believe. But is the Nokia Airtel tie up hinting that market dynamics have changed? Is Nokia concerned about bundled offers from other operators? Is Vodafone Magic-box with Vodafone branded ZTE phones @ INR 1199 a threat. Does this mean that handset vendors are looking at handset bunding or are operators offering bundling that is forcing handset vendors to partner with operators. Did Nokia and Airtel plann this smart move by advertising together without any subsdidy?