Displaying items by tag: 4G

Nokia has announced a services deal with A1 Austria, building on the leadership of both companies in the Austrian enterprise market.

In this three-year contract, started earlier in 2020, Nokia is providing its industrial-grade private wireless technology and services for all existing and new A1 Austria LTE and 5G enterprise campus network deployments.

As part of the deal, Nokia will provide operational support and care for all existing campus networks, ensuring adherence to even the most challenging service level agreements (SLAs) and quality of services (QoS) requirements. With the support of Nokia, A1 Austria will accelerate the digital transformation of its enterprise customers. A1 and Nokia have already successfully deployed a number of private wireless campus networks in Austria, including installations at Magna Steyr, Vienna Airport and 5G Playground Carinthia.

Nokia is now the technology partner of A1 Austria, ensuring high-performance 4.9G/LTE 5G private wireless network solutions. In addition, A1 and its customers benefit from Nokia’s globally proven capabilities in digitalization, automation, AI and network slicing.

A1 Austria is a global lead customer for Nokia’s network slicing technology in 4G and 5G mobile networks, a key functionality for enterprise networking which A1 Austria is planning to make available nationwide. Private wireless networks are ideal for the business-critical communication requirements of factories, logistic hubs, and other enterprise verticals along with public safety organizations.

According to Mobile Experts1, the global private LTE and 5G market is anticipated to triple by 2025 as a variety of industries are upgrading their investment in private wireless networks to support industrial operations.

Alexander Stock, CTO at A1 Austria, said, “This deal reinforces the long-standing collaboration between A1 and Nokia, including an agreement to expand next-generation 5G mobile communications in Austria. A1 is now a clear leader in enterprise in Austria and, together with Nokia as its technology partner, we are looking forward to quickly rolling out new deployments.”

Friedrich Trawöger, Head of Operate and Managed Services at Nokia, said, “As operators like A1 Austria diversify their portfolios with new services and business innovation to digitalize industries, Nokia is in place to deliver proven expertise in the deployment and operation of business-critical private network solutions. We have had significant success on a number of executed projects with A1 in Austria and this deal will further position both companies as leaders in the private LTE and 5G domain.”  

In addition to the services contract, Nokia provides A1 Austria the infrastructure, software and services for setting up the private LTE networks. This includes a micro core network, AirFrame servers, small or macro cells, as well as professional services.

Nokia has announced that it has expanded the 4G footprint of the Azerbaijan-based mobile operator, Azercell Telecom, with the installation of its AirScale 4G base stations at more than 1,400 sites across the country.

Nokia’s AirScale Radio Access solutions will provide Azercell with high-speed mobile connectivity to cater for increased demand as well as providing a clear migration path in the future. Nokia is the sole supplier in this deal and will replace the former 4G provider and develop the network further.

The deal will be the first large-scale regional deployment of 4G services outside of the capital city of Baku. Azercell will utilize Nokia’s Single RAN solution, which is an industry-first commercial end-to-end solution that offers huge capacity scaling and market-leading latency. It will reduce complexity, increase cost efficiencies, and enable a smooth upgrade path in the future via a software update.  

Azercell will also utilize Nokia Software’s NetAct Cloud network management system, which is cloud-agnostic and meets customer demands for software-only delivery. It is deployed on the same data center platforms as other IT and telco systems for increased agility and lower operational costs. NetAct manages both radio and core networks and provides applications for fault management, configuration management, network and administration management, performance management, and security management.

The deal includes Nokia’s services for network design, deployment, and optimization. Installation began at the end of 2018 and was completed in July 2020.

Azercell is the largest operator in Azerbaijan and has prioritized increasing the geographic coverage of 4G with plans to roll out across the whole country including semi-urban and rural regions. Azercell is also planning to deploy low-power, wide-area NB-IoT services.  

Marat Hamidov, Director of Network Technology Department at Azercell, said, “With more than 5 million customers, Azercell has improved and expanded its 4G network across the country with Nokia to provide its population with equal technological opportunities and the latest innovations through its high-speed Internet. It is worth mentioning that a European benchmarking test, conducted by “Systemics” in Azerbaijan, confirmed that Azercell provided the highest quality of 4G services in all the regions of the country. We look forward to a long partnership with Nokia.”

Mikko Lavanti, Market Unit Head, Central East and Central Asia at Nokia, said, “We are delighted to support Azercell in their efforts to deploy nationwide 4G connectivity. A high-performing 4G network is absolutely fundamental, and with our AirScale solution, we also offer a simple upgrade to the next technological era when Azercell is ready. I look forward to developing a long-standing and close-working partnership with Azercell and helping in its continued efforts to deliver best-in-class connectivity to subscribers across the country.”

Nokia has announced it has partnered with Vivo to provide private wireless services for Vale’s Carajás mine in Brazil.

The service will be part of an Industry 4.0 project by Vale to deploy autonomous drill platforms and trucks. The project will increase productivity at the mine and improve worker safety. The network will be also used for mine-wide communications between workers. Vale plans to expand the technology to other mines currently using older WiMax solutions.

Nokia is currently working with several mining operators worldwide to deploy private wireless networks based on LTE, with plans to migrate to 5G in the future.

Autonomous ore trucks have been shown to increase productivity by 15% and reduce fuel and maintenance costs by 10%. Nokia’s LTE and 5G, being mobile technologies, provide more reliable support than WiMax or Wi-Fi for operating and controlling trucks and drills on the move.

Nokia’s private industrial-grade wireless solutions are enabling many new applications in the mining field, including support for environmental monitoring, video-assisted remote operations and improved worker monitoring and safety. Nokia is partnering with key solution providers in the mining industry, including Komatsu and Sandvik.

Vale is also currently operating 13 autonomous trucks on a WiMax network at its Brucutu mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil, with the intention to also replace it with a private LTE network for improved performance and reliability. Other applications being considered include an IoT application connecting dam monitoring instruments using LTE.

The advantage of LTE is its ability to adjust performance characteristics to each individual application and to provide a single mine-wide wireless platform that can support any kind of critical communication requirement.

Gustavo Vieira, CIO of Vale, said, “This new generation of wireless technology — LTE and, eventually, 5G — is enabling us to explore many new applications and use cases for remote and autonomous operations. This will help to make our mining operations more efficient, sustainable and safe for our workers.”

Alex Salgado, Vivo’s B2B Vice-President, said, “The private wireless service we are implementing at Vale’s Carajás mine is one of many deployments that we expect to see in the next few years. Forward-thinking customers such as Vale are embracing Industry 4.0 technologies, fostering digital solutions at the heart of their businesses, whether in agriculture, transportation or mining. We are excited to be leading this transformation.”

Luiz Tonisi, Head of Market Unit Brazil at Nokia, said, “Nokia is making a lot of impact in the mining sector right now, and this project with Vale is a very important beginning here in Brazil. Our industrial-grade private LTE wireless solution is ideal for supporting the industry’s embrace of autonomous technologies. It solves a lot of issues that past wireless technologies have struggled with and opens the way for many new and exciting use cases for mines of the future.”

Nokia today announced the availability of a software based upgrade that will enable its 4G/LTE radios to be migrated seamlessly to 5G/NR.

These features will have a high value to Nokia’s customers as they provide immediate support for approximately one million radios, reaching 3.1 million by the end of the year and over 5 million in 2021. By upgrading existing radio elements via software, Nokia is helping to streamline the process of refarming 4G/LTE spectrum into 5G/NR. The move will also support existing customers and the installed base by offering a seamless and cost-effective upgrade path to 5G/NR.

Most of the 5G/NR deployments to date have been performed with TDD cmWave and TDD mmWave deployment but the next big wave of 5G/NR rollouts will be delivered by refarming existing FDD bands to 5G/NR. TDD spectrum benefits from enlarged coverage and capacity when combined with already deployed FDD network infrastructure and spectrum bands via TDD/FDD Carrier Aggregation.

The ability to upgrade 4G/LTE radios via a software update will significantly smooth out the deployment of 5G/NR FDD, avoiding costly and disruptive site visits. Nokia has a vast customer base of 359 4G/LTE customers with deployed FDD RF units most of which are possible to upgrade. This will provide a new and smoother way for operators to build 5G/NR coverage in lower bands via spectrum refarming. Nokia’s 4G/LTE radios are market leading and outperform all vendors according to independent testing.

Nokia also has Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) already in live networks covering 2G/GSM-3G/WCDMA-4G/LTE and recently introduced DSS for 4G/LTE-5G/NR. This capability completes a DSS solution, covering all access technologies and making the radio frequency refarming to 5G/NR a simple and efficient process.

In a typical case DSS will be introduced to one or few 4G/LTE bands which are then combined with carrier aggregation between other bands running pure 4G/LTE or 5G/NR. Nokia has the market leading DSS solution covering all radio access technologies from 2G/GSM to 5G/NR.

Nokia estimates that this solution will save the telecommunications industry potentially tens of billions of euros in site engineering and re-visit costs as communication service providers are able to upgrade their networks to 5G/NR on FDD with software.  

Chris Nicoll, Principal Analyst at ACG Research, said, "While Open RAN promises software upgradability to ease transitions between ‘Gs’ and add new features, Nokia’s Flexi and AirScale portfolio shows it is ahead of the game by providing a software upgrade to transition over 5 million 4G radios to 5G. Efficient FDD spectrum refarming is critical for fast, broad and deep 5G deployments. With Nokia supplying the majority of the world’s top 4G operators, supporting key advanced features such as DSS helps those operators lead with 5G.”

 “We already provide market- leading LTE radios to hundreds of customers around the world. This is an important solution because it will help our customers, quickly and efficiently upgrade their existing LTE radios so that they are 5G ready saving them time and money.”

Ericsson has announced that its unique dynamic spectrum sharing solution is commercially available, allowing communications service providers to quickly and cost-effectively launch 5G on a nationwide scale.

Ericsson Spectrum Sharing enables both 4G and 5G to be deployed in the same band and on the same radio through a software upgrade and dynamically allocates spectrum based on user demand on a 1 millisecond basis. Ericsson’s dynamic spectrum sharing is the most economically feasible way to deploy 5G on existing bands – enabling wide 5G coverage from day one – making more efficient use of spectrum and enabling superior user performance.

Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks, Ericsson, said, “For the first time, our customers do not have to re-farm spectrum before deploying a new ‘G’ and can quickly get 5G on the same footprint as they have with 4G today. In the next 12 months, more than 80 percent of the commercial 5G networks we support will use our spectrum sharing solution to achieve broad 5G coverage.”
“Spectrum is a scarce and costly resource that should be used efficiently. Ericsson Spectrum Sharing will mean that service providers can rapidly roll out 5G on their FDD bands without the need to re-invest. It means they can use both their new and existing bands for 5G high-speed, high-capacity services. Dynamically allocating spectrum between 4G and 5G is going to be the best way to start deploying 5G,” said Julian Bright, Senior Analyst, Ovum/Omdia.

ESS live with multiple service providers

Swisscom

With Ericsson as its sole mobile network vendor and strategic partner, Swisscom was the first communications service provider in Europe to launch commercial 5G services in April 2019. In December 2019, Swisscom achieved nationwide 5G coverage and is upgrading their network with Ericsson Spectrum Sharing.

Christoph Aeschlimann, Head of IT, Network & Infrastructure Group division, Swisscom, says: "ESS is key for a fast adoption of 5G. It's a win-win approach for customers and operators. Customers benefit from 5G in no time and operators use their precious spectrum in a most efficient manner. We are proud of being part of the ESS journey from the very beginning. In the meantime, we already reached a nationwide coverage with 90 percent of the population with 5G."

Telstra

In May 2019, Telstra launched its commercial 5G network in Australia and has now rolled out 5G coverage in 32 metropolitan and regional cities around the country with the help of Ericsson, its key 5G network partner. 

“Ericsson Spectrum Sharing will continue to play a crucial role in helping Telstra pave the way for a faster rollout of 5G, allowing us to serve the needs of 4G and 5G customers in the same location at the same time. These milestones are especially important for Telstra and the Australian landscape, where expanding 5G coverage over wide areas quickly and efficiently are key to providing more Australians with access to 5G services,” said Channa Seneviratne, Network and Engineering Infrastructure Executive, Telstra.  

Ooredoo Qatar

After going commercially live with 5G on 3.5 GHz band in Doha, Ooredoo is taking the next step to make its ‘Supernet’ fully 5G-enabled across the country with Ericsson Spectrum Sharing.

Waleed Al Sayed, Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, said, “As we take the next leap into being connected, Ericsson Spectrum Sharing comes as a unique innovation that dynamically shares spectrum between 4G and 5G carriers based on traffic demand. This enables us, as mobile operators, to use our spectrum assets efficiently by driving 5G-wide coverage roll-out quickly, smoothly and cost efficiently. This will help us achieve our strategic objectives, enabling us to enhance our customers’ internet experience and enrich their digital lives.”

Play

Polish service provider, Play, has deployed Ericsson Spectrum Sharing on its commercial network.

Jean Marc Harion, CEO of Play, says: "The 5G network in Legionowo is yet another proof of Play’s technological advancement in 5G and an important milestone in our strategy to continuously expand and modernize our network. With Ericsson Spectrum Sharing, we are taking a significant step towards being ready for commercial introduction of 5G when the devices become available.”

ESS ecosystem

Ericsson Spectrum Sharing software can run on any of the five million 5G-ready radios Ericsson has shipped since 2015. Ericsson has been collaborating with ecosystem chipset partners including Qualcomm Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, on advancing dynamic spectrum sharing using mobile devices powered by Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 865 and 765 Mobile Platforms with Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems, and MediaTek (Dimensity 1000) as well as key device makers like Oppo, Sony, Xiaomi, LG, vivo and WNC (Wistron NeWeb Corp.) to scale the solution globally.

Nokia announced the launch of new end-to-end slicing network functionality for 4G and 5G New Radio (NR) – the first vendor to offer this capability. The solution will support connectivity from 4G and 5G devices over the sliced network to applications running in private and public clouds and will be available this summer. 

Nokia’s new solution enables operators to start building their network slicing business today with LTE and 5G NR. The slicing capability can be deployed via a software upgrade into existing LTE and 5G non-standalone (NSA) networks and subsequently 5G standalone (SA) networks. The slicing continuity between LTE and 5G NR allows operators to maximize their network coverage for new mobile connectivity services.

The solution provides sliced mobile broadband connectivity from device to radio, transport, core, all the way to applications in private and public networks and the cloud. The user and service-aware slicing functionality has been introduced to Nokia radio access products for the first time and is also supported in Nokia transport and core products with control, management and assurance systems. Solution supports all 4G and 5G devices and works in a multi-vendor environment.

Nokia’s slicing solution is being developed in collaboration with leading operators A1 and Telia. It delivers new value and business opportunities for enterprises, as well as for the Internet of Things, fixed wireless access, applications and content related services. It enables new mobile end-to-end services with logical connections, security, quality and traffic management with a seamless service continuity across 4G and 5G networks. Private wireless slicing also opens up new network functionalities for different applications, such as surveillance and automation.

Nokia is already trialing live 4G/5G slicing use cases with customers powered by a unique Software Defined Network (SDN) radio slice controller as well as a transport slice controller. The trial includes a Nokia cloud packet core slice orchestrator to support network deployment automation as well as an SD-WAN software solution providing a managed 4G/5G network slice to private and public cloud services. Nokia assurance systems are used to verify per slice KPIs as a part of Nokia’s E2E service orchestration.

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks, Nokia, said, “Working closely with our customers to develop new technologies and business opportunities is hugely important to Nokia. 4G/5G slicing enables multiple new use cases which operators can start building now to create new revenue streams.”

Tech titan Huawei has revealed its plans to deploy high-speed wireless internet in a number of remote, underserved communities in the North of Canada.

The Chinese tech firm has planned to deploy mainly 4G technology. This comes amid Huawei and the US’s controversial relationship. The US has imposed sanctions on the company as they have deemed the company a potential threat to their national security. Also, Canada and China are still in the midst of a diplomatic crisis concerning the detention of a Huawei executive.

Huawei has revealed that it will partner with Ice Wireless and Iristel to ensure that the rural communities will be connected by 2025. They also stated that alongside the remote areas of northeastern Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador, around 25 communities in Nunavut territory would also benefit from the deployment.

“We strongly believe that everyone should be connected to 4G LTE, no matter where they live in Canada, even in areas where high-speed service may not be economically viable,” said President of Huawei Canada, Eric Li.

Huawei officials have stated that they will deploy wireless internet in some of the coldest places on earth, which are located in Canada.

VP of Ice Wireless and Iristel, Jean-Francois Dumoulin, said, “We need to use highly reliable, world-class equipment to minimize physical intervention and to avoid outages that risk making our communities isolated once again. That’s why we partner with Huawei Canada.”

In fact, this comes as the US has been pressuring its allies to avoid using Huawei to deploy their 5G networks and have claimed that Huawei has links to the Chinese government and may partake in cyber-espionage on their behalf. However, there has been no proof of this allegation being true.

Also, Canada and Huawei have also been at odds due to the arrest of Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Neng Wanzhou, in December in Canada at the request of the US. Washington believes that she committed fraud by violating Iran sanctions and lying to US banks about it, which is why they want to put her on trial for fraud charges.

TIM (Telecom Italia), in collaboration with Nokia, has achieved a wavelength speed of 550 Gigabits per second (Gb/s), a new European record for data transmission over a long-distance backbone network.

A robust ecosystem is driving 5G deployments to support enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and fixed wireless access (FWA) use cases, which sets the stage for sophisticated 5G applications requiring low latency and high reliability.

Ericsson and Orange have partnered to launch 4G networks in Sierra Leone in the nation’s capital of Freetown which will be providing its residents with fast and reliable 4G access.