Telecom equipment manufacturer, Nokia has announced the extension of its partnership with Swedish telecommunications operator, Tele2 for the deployment of 5G RAN in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in what could be seen as a long-term deal.
The new arrangement is coming after more than 25 years of collaboration between Nokia and Tele2 in the Baltic region, with the new alignment coming at a time the three Baltic States are yearning for the fifth-generation technology.
In the new deal, Nokia 5G solutions will give Tele2 the opportunity to deliver connectivity and capacity benefits at ultra-low latencies to their customers, and reduce complexity.
With Nokia being the incumbent and sole supplier in the deal, it will provide equipments from its latest ReefShark System on Chip-powered AirScale equipment portfolio that will modernizeTele2’s nationwide radio network. The rollout will begin immediately Tele2 acquires sufficient spectrum with auctions for both low and high band frequencies scheduled for next year.
Tele2 had previously acquired 5G spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band and the 700 MHz spectrum in Latvia, and Nokia on its own has its AirScale RAN portfolio designed for simple and efficient ‘plug-in’ deployment, while reducing power consumption.
Nokia, having partnered with Tele2 since 1996 to deploy 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G network deployments since 1996, will with this new partnership be hoping to cover dense-urban environments and wide areas with the 5G rollout.
While announcing the partnership, Baltics CEO, Petras Masiulissaid: “We now have a strong and reliable partner for our complete 5G rollout in the Baltics and together we will provide a major upgrade to the connectivity in each country, providing our customers with better speeds, reliability, and coverage.”
“We now have a strong and reliable partner for our complete 5G rollout in the Baltics and together we will bring a major upgrade to the connectivity in each country, providing our customers with better speeds, reliability and coverage. Nokia provides seamless solutions and state-of-the-art equipment combined with great service. They have been a strong partner to us throughout previous generations of mobile technology and we look forward to continuing this partnership going forward”, he added.
The President of Nokia’s Mobile Networks, Tommi Uittoaligned with Petras statement while stating that: “Our (Nokia) best-in-class AirScale portfolio will deliver cutting-edge connectivity to their customers across multiple markets and I look forward to working closely with them (Tel2) on this project and beyond.”