Telecom company cements 5G deals in Taiwan and New Zealand and has other tech deals in Australia and China.
Nokia and New Zealand operator Spark have launched 5G services in the Auckland Viaduct area to bring high-speed wireless connectivity to a major international sailing event.
The 5G network will leverage Nokia’s AirScale radio portfolio to deliver ultra-fast data speeds with low-latency. The upgraded network allows Spark’s customers to experience new interactive applications while making existing ones more efficient, even under the significant traffic demands of a major sporting event.
To support network agility, Nokia has deployed NetAct, a cloud-agnostic solution, across Spark’s network. NetAct manages both radio and core networks, and provides applications that oversee fault, configuration, performance and security management. Nokia is providing network planning and new product introduction support to optimize 5G performance.
In addition, located within the Auckland Viaduct precinct is Spark’s 5G Race Zone, also powered by Nokia 5G technology. The Race Zone is a consumer brand experience designed to put sailing fans at the heart of the action with a multi-crew simulator, a 4D immersive experience and a wind tunnel that visualizes wind data like never before.
Spark New Zealand and Nokia have a long-established relationship, crossing multiple domains, including IP, optical and wireless. Nokia and Spark have collaborated extensively on 5G technology, with Nokia supporting Spark’s 5G networks across New Zealand. The service rollout in Auckland adds to Nokia’s solid 5G momentum in the region, while it allows Spark to offer additional services in high traffic areas.
The deal follows on the heels of Nokia’s deal with Taiwanese mobile operator, Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), to provide it with a range of products from its innovative small cells portfolio to support CHT’s initiative to deliver comprehensive 5G coverage.
CHT is one of the first operator in Taiwan to deploy a 5G non-standalone (NSA) small cells solution enabling instant 5G coverage in specific areas such as business as well as tourist districts. Nokia has already commenced deployment and has installed 140 5G small cells to date.
Also under the agreement Nokia will supply CHT with its flexible AirScale indoor Radio (ASiR) solution for better indoor coverage and capacity, as well as its AirScale micro RRH for outdoor and urban hot spots. These will be deployed to complement the existing base of over 2,500 sets of 4G small cells. Nokia’s 5G small cells portfolio is quick to install and enables operators to address 5G network densification and indoor coverage requirements.
With enterprise being a key 5G market CHT is working closely with local small to medium-size enterprises to provide secure 5G coverage to enable industry 4.0 automation. Approximately 80 percent of mobile sessions are initiated indoors from homes and businesses and high-quality indoor 5G coverage is pivotal to ensuring a good end-user experience.
In September Australian telco Optus selected Nokia’s IMPACT Internet of Things (IoT) platform to provide device management and data collection capabilities to their customers. Both companies have agreed on a joint go-to-market strategy to bring IoT solutions to Optus customers across multiple industry segments in Australia.
Nokia’s IoT Device Management Platform (DMP) will enable Optus to provide its customers with simple access to Narrow Band-IoT device data, from low power devices, and remote device management at scale. This can be done regardless of device type. Nokia and Optus will work together to help create smart cities and support enterprise customers across industries, including mining, utilities and transportation.
Anticipated industry applications include cost effective waste management, supply chain optimisation, logistics management and scene analytics for improved safety and security.
Australia’s IoT market is estimated to grow to USD 25 billion by 2024, up from USD 7.9 billion in 20181, indicating the potential opportunity for Optus and Nokia.
The alliance builds on Nokia’s longstanding relationship with Optus. Nokia is working collaboratively with the operator to manage and maintain its network infrastructure. The two companies launched Australia’s first 5G commercial services in early 2019, making Optus the first operator globally to deploy Nokia’s FastMile 5G indoor gateway in a live network. Nokia and Optus also successfully launched a 5G Fixed Wireless Access service using the 5G New Radio standard.
The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) has deployed an optical network using Nokia’s IP/Optical solutions. The deployment will allow SGCC to expand network coverage to more power stations and business offices, while also increasing capacity and flexibility.
In China the deployment covers new deployments in Hebei, Hunan provinces and Chongqing municipality, as well as expansions in ten other provinces, including Jibei, Jiangsu and Sichuan.
SGCC supplies electrical power to more than 1.1 billion people across 26 provinces, covering 88 per cent of Chinese national territory.
To cater to the increased mission-critical traffic requirements, and to future proof the network, SGCC is upgrading the communications infrastructure to monitor and control the largest utility grid in the world, producing and transferring massive amounts of data across long distances.
The deployment leverages Nokia’s WaveFabric optical solutions to deliver an agile and future-proof network that is reliabile for critical and non-critical services, including operator assistance and support for businesses and multi-media services.
The solution also provides the provincial backbone with bandwidth to connect high-voltage power stations and substations along the electrical power transmission line.
