Nokia has announced a go-to-market deal for private LTE and 5G in Latin America with Spain-based mobile operator Telefónica. The pair will target the ports, mining, energy, and manufacturing sectors, described as the “most promising industries in the region”. The deal covers “Hispanic geographies”; Telefónica operates in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The partnership will see Telefónica deploy Nokia’s Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) and Modular Private Wireless (MPW) solutions, for small and large-sized private LTE and 5G deployments, along with its Mission Critical Industrial Edge (MXIE) solution, plus sundry home-made and third-party Industry 4.0 apps and services. Telefónica will supply the customer, in most cases, plus the spectrum.
It is unclear whether the deal is an exclusive one for Telefónica in the region, although Telefónica called Nokia a “strategic partner” and their partnership an “unprecedented alliance” – without clarifying how or why it is unprecedented.
The pair have already delivered private LTE networks in the region to Brazilian oil and gas giant Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras), on track to deploy private LTE on 29 offshore oil platforms and 17 various onshore facilities, plus to Brazilian mining firm Vale for its open-pit Carajás iron ore mine, and Peruvian copper mine Minera Las Bambas. They have worked on other deals, as well.
Nokia said it has deployed mission-critical networks to 2,600 “leading enterprise customers” in sundry vertical segments. It has also deployed private wireless networks with 595 customers, including 79 “multinationals that have deployed [its] industrial-grade private wireless solutions”. It claims a survey by GlobalData (and itself) says 80 percent of “survey respondents” among these multinational private network customers “expect” to achieve ROI within six months of deployment.
Juan Vicente Martín, director for B2B at Telefonica Movistar Empresas Hispanoamérica, said: “In this unprecedented alliance, the benefits of LTE and 5G private wireless will enable Industry 4.0 across industries. With our strategic partner Nokia, we provide the best connectivity, enable greater optimization of operations, achieving important productivity and efficiency rates and contributing to the digitalization of the industrial sectors throughout Latin America.”
Néstor González, head of the Telefónica corporate customer team at Nokia, said: “We are thrilled to partner with Telefonica… to jointly reach a wide variety of enterprises and industries throughout the region… Enterprises in Latin America… have tremendous potential for productivity gains from Industry 4.0. We… are looking forward to jointly deploying many new networks.”
