Nokia frame deals cover RAN, transport, NFV, SDN and services
Nokia came out of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai this week with more than $2 billion worth of deals in place with the country’s three mobile operators–China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. Good through the end of next year, the scope of the agreements covers a wide range of Nokia’s portfolio, including equipment for radio and fixed wireless equipment, routing and optical transport gear, NFV and SDN solutions, and managed services.
The wins are all geared toward transitioning from LTE to 5G networks. Per Nokia, here’s a brief overview of each deal:
- China Mobile is investing in radio, core and passive optical networks, IP routing, optical transport and SDN;
- China Telecom is looking to enhance its LTE network with capex for RAN, CPE equipment, core and edge routers and optics;
- China Unicom is investing in edge computing, virtualized IMS, SDN, routing and transport and fixed network gear.
Mike Wang, president of Nokia Shanghai Bell said in a statement the three Chinese operators will “drive new levels of network performance as they transition toward 5G. Leveraging the breadth of our end-to-end network and service capabilities, we will work closely with China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom to deploy technologies that meet their specific needs.”
The body that oversees spectrum allocation in China has tapped 3.3 GHz, 3.6 GHz, 4.8 GHz and 5 GHz as the country’s major 5G bands. Action on millimeter wave frequencies is a little further out, but candidate bands include 24.75 GHz to 27.5 GHz 37 GHz to 42.5 GHz.
