Ice currently has over 700,000 customers and its 4G and 5G network covers 95% of the population in Norway
Nokia announced that it has secured a five-year contract with Norwegian mobile operator Ice to upgrade and expand its 5G radio network infrastructure nationwide.
In a release, the Finnish vendor said that the deployment is already underway and will run until 2026.
Under the terms of the deal, Nokia will supply equipment from its AirScale portfolio including Single RAN, AirScale base stations, and 5G massive MIMO antennas to support different spectrum bands. Approximately 3,200 base stations will be upgraded, and an additional 3,900 new base stations will be deployed.
Nokia noted that the implementation of these solutions will boost Ice’s 5G coverage and performance and cover all deployment scenarios from dense-urban capacity to wide-area coverage. The vendor will also provide its NetAct solution for network management and daily network operations as well as optimization and technical support services.
Ice is owned by the multi-utility company, Lyse, which also owns fiber broadband provider Altibox. Collectively, the companies manage nationwide digital infrastructure as well as mobile frequencies for both 4G and 5G. Under this new arrangement, Ice and Altibox will be able to add new services such as 5G Fixed Wireless Access.
Ice currently has over 700,000 customers and its 4G and 5G network covers 95% of the population in Norway.
Eivind Helgaker, CEO at Ice, said: “This deal highlights our continued commitment to investing in our network and giving our subscribers the best possible connectivity experiences. Nokia has been our technology partner from the very beginning and through active competition they have again convinced us that they are still the right choice. Their technology gives us the flexibility to utilize our spectrum assets to their full capacity and enables us to compete even more strongly in the Norwegian telecommunications market.”
“This is a particularly exciting phase for Ice as 5G is picking up pace in Norway and is establishing a competitive position in the market (…) We have already made great progress with the deployment of 5G services across the country and this new deal will extend coverage to new areas while improving the coverage and performance of the existing footprint. Our industry has a big role to play in the green transition of societies, and our energy-efficient AirScale portfolio supports Ice’s commitments to sustainability,” said Tommi Uitto, president of mobile networks at Nokia.
Ice initially launched 5G services in Oslo in November 2021. The telco said that its initial 5G offering was launched using spectrum in the 2.1 GHz and 700 MHz bands.
Ice had also won a 3.6 GHz national spectrum license in September of 2021.
