Displaying items by tag: Telenor Group

Nokia made Telenor Group's key cloud core supplier in Scandinavia to drive network efficiency after it simplified the telecom operator's Asian hub networks. Deployment in Denmark, Norway and Sweden will enable new capabilities in service agility, scalability, automation and network slicing as Telenor evolves toward 5G.

Telenor will leverage Nokia AirFrame data center and Cloud Packet Core solutions, Nuage Networks SDN technologies, CloudBand Management and Orchestration Software and third-party security solutions
Nokia is to provide program management, deployment, integration, migration and operational support services, and facilitate on boarding of other virtual network core functions.

Espoo, Finland - Nokia and Telenor Group are to deploy a cloud-native core solution based on Nokia AirGile technology, including the AirFrame data center and Cloud Packet Core, in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The deployment will enhance performance and reliability and drive mobile broadband service agility as Telenor prepares for the introduction of 5G.

The cloud-native core solution will deliver new flexibilities and capabilities in automation, enabling Telenor's networks to instantly adapt and scale services to meet the changing demands of people and connected things. The ability to quickly onboard virtualized network functions across a cloud-based infrastructure will reduce time-to-market for new services. With the introduction of 5G, the solution will enable network slicing, allowing Telenor to further expand its service offerings to meet the ever-growing and diverse demands of people and industries.

Nokia will deliver an AirGile cloud-native core and deploy its AirFrame data center and Cloud Packet Core solutions, including its Cloud Mobility Manager and Cloud Mobile Gateway, Nuage Networks SDN technologies, the CloudBand Management and Orchestration Software and third-party security solutions. Leveraging Nokia's open approach to architecture and collaboration, Telenor will be able take advantage of a rich ecosystem of Nokia and third-party applications. Nokia will provide its services expertise and use its Cloud Collaboration Hubs to optimize the deployment and support network operations.

This agreement follows Nokia's earlier successful deployment of a cloud-native core solution for Telenor's operations in Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Morten Karlsen Sørby, EVP and head of Telenor Group's Scandinavia cluster, said: "The transition to 5G will be driven by use-cases, allowing us to meet the needs of existing and new markets with innovative services. We are pleased to leverage Nokia's technology and services capabilities to help us transform our cloud networks in our Scandinavian markets and provide us with new efficiencies and capabilities as we make that journey."

Hilary Mine, Head of Nordics, Baltics and Benelux for Nokia said: "Nokia is able to draw on its extensive network and services expertise to deliver a cloud-native core network that will allow Telenor to speed service delivery and take advantage of new efficiencies in terms of scaling services and expanding capacity to meet demand. The Nokia cloud-native core will provide a solid foundation as Telenor evolves toward 5G."
  

Norway-based Telenor Group and Wireless Trondheim are joining forces to open a new IoT powerhouse to boost innovation, build competencies and promote Norwegian competitiveness. The IoT ProtoLab will be open to start-ups, developers and students looking to rapidly prototype and develop IoT products and services. 

Opening in early 2018, the IoT ProtoLab will be a centre for IoT research and innovation, specifically focusing on next generation Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technologies and applications. It will also enable the exchange of data, sharing of experiences and collaboration with ongoing projects at the Telenor-NTNU AI-Lab.

The lab was established as part of Telenor's initiative to prepare Norway for a digitised future, contribute to national competitiveness, increased innovation and new competencies.

“The people and companies shaping tomorrow's society are the ones that are able to utilize and apply data in new ways,” said Sigve Brekke, President and CEO of Telenor Group. “Telenor is committed to help build these capabilities in Norway. The IoT ProtoLab will be a place for students, entrepreneurs and startups to experiment and prototype solutions using next-generation IoT technologies.”

 The IoT ProtoLab will be located at FAKTRY, the new community for ambitious start-ups in hardware-centric disciplines at Sluppen in Trondheim, which opens in November 2017.

To support the piloting and testing of IoT services in Trondheim, Wireless Trondheim has enabled a city-wide IoT test-bed and connected to Telenor's non-commercial offering, Start IoT.  This provides access to IoT devices, a physical LPWA pilot network and a backend system, which enables prototyping and developing of IoT services at a relatively low cost. Wireless Trondheim will be responsible for the setup and the daily operation of the IoT ProtoLab.

“Our mission at Wireless Trondheim is to enable students, entrepreneurs and start-ups to experiment and prototype solutions using next-generation IoT technologies,” said Thomas Ulleberg, Manager of Wireless Trondheim. “By coupling our specialist competence with companies like Telenor, we can create real impact and help make new smart products and services for the future.”

In addition to its Start IoT offering, Telenor will also provide mentorship, support internships in the lab and will collaborate with key partners for student projects and hackathons. The first official IoT ProtoLab hackathon will be organised at FAKTRY in November by Telenor, Wireless Trondheim and Pycom.

The two day event aims to gather creative minds of the city's developer community, start-ups and students to identify and solve real-life critical business problems using next generation IoT technology, supported by experts, network access and devkits.

Norway’s state-owned international telecom firm Telenor Group delivered a strong set of results for the second quarter of 2017 with improved revenue growth, double-digit EBITDA uplift and strong cash flow generation. Both the EBITDA and the EBITDA margin are all-time high this quarter for the company.

“We were able to reduce our costs by NOK 0.6 billion (US$73.3 million) and we saw margin expansion in all our business units,” said Sigve Brekke, President and CEO, Telenor Group. “The robustness of our Norwegian operation, the strong revenue growth in Bangladesh and the return to growth in Thailand were amongst the highlights for the quarter.”

Brekke added, “At the Capital Markets Day in February, we shared our strategic ambitions towards 2020, highlighting continued growth, improved efficiency and simplification as key drivers for value creation. I am pleased to see that we have taken several steps during the first six months of the year to execute on this strategy.”

As a result of the achievements in the first half of the year, Telenor Group is “stepping up” its efficiency ambitions and is raising the EBITDA margin guidance for 2017. With rapid changes in customer behavior and technology advances, continued cost reductions will be necessary in the coming years, the CEO said.

In line with its simplification agenda, Telenor Group sold its online classifieds positions in Latin America and continued the sell down of VEON (formerly VimpelCom) in the quarter. Following proceeds from recent transactions combined with a solid balance sheet, the Telenor Group Board has decided to distribute parts of the funds to shareholders through a 2% share buyback program.

Norway’s Telenor Group and Huawei jointly announced the first 5G based E-band multi-user MIMO demo in Norway. The maximum speed reached by the demo was 70Gbps. Furthermore, a Joint Desktop Study that will provide insights and learnings to identify necessary update steps from 4G to 5G technology in Telenor’s Network, will be operated through the Telenor and Huawei Joint Innovation Center.

The E-band multi-user MIMO can provide over a 20Gbps speed rate for a single user. Working as a supplementary low frequency band, the E-band enhances the user experience of eMBB (Enhanced Mobile Broadband).

The Norwegian Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr. Ketil Solvik-Olsen, attended the event and personally launched the Demo. Telenor Group CEO, Mr. Sigve Brekke said, “This is a big day for Telenor, because finally we can demonstrate the potential of 5G, and Norway will always be the first market for us to test new technology.”

Telenor Nordic CEO, Berit Svendsen, gave special thanks to Huawei for their key contribution to this collaboration. She said, “No operator can do this alone, that is why our partnership with Huawei is so incredibly important. Huawei are far ahead in this area”.

The president of Huawei Telenor Key Account Team, Mr. Zhang Chao said, “Huawei is one of the world’s leading organizations working on the standardization and development of 5G, and I congratulate us all in taking this first important step towards 5G. We are very proud to be part of this first 5G demo in Norway.”

Telenor, being one of the world's leading telecom operators, has a very clear technical strategy and superior execution capabilities. Telenor also follows 5G technology developments closely, and in the international 5G standardization bodies Telenor and Huawei work closely together.

Thailand’s second largest mobile operator, dtac, part of the Telenor Group will become the first mobile operator in Thailand to implement a software-defined network (SDN)-ready IP/optical network, according to Nokia, which is supplying IP/optical products to dtac for its backbone network.

Nokia says the network will eventually deliver ultra-broadband mobile access to more than 40 percent of Thailand's population. “The number of mobile subscribers in Thailand is increasing rapidly, stimulating greater demand for advanced networks to support surging data consumption,” says Nokia.

“dtac needed a core network to handle the increased data demand, but also with the open interfaces and the programmability necessary to support a migration to SDN.”

Nokia is supplying its 7950 Extensible Routing System (XRS) and the 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) to replace dtac's existing IP core routing and dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) infrastructure to “provide the capacity and capabilities required to efficiently address growth in demand, and lay the foundation for an SDN infrastructure.”

The deployment also includes Nokia's security gateway for dtac's LTE network. “Combined, these platforms ensure that dtac is well positioned to meet customer bandwidth requirements into the future while improving network flexibility and reliability,” Nokia says,

dtac CTO, Prathet Tankuranun, said: "Over the last two years we've seen demand for mobile broadband grow exponentially. As we prepare for future advanced technologies we've made a strategic choice for an SDN-ready IP/optical network because it gives us the control and agility needed to run an efficient network that can rapidly adjust to evolving demand patterns. This deployment with Nokia is an important next step in our migration towards full SDN automation."

Sebastien Laurent, head of Nokia Thailand, said the upgrade would “allow dtac to implement on-demand services while also easing operation and maintenance demands."