Spanish operator Telefonica awarded contracts to roll out its 5G Standalone (SA) radio networks to Nordic vendors Ericsson and Nokia, local business newspaper Expansion reported.
According to the report Chinese vendor Huawei, was excluded from 5G SA contracts.
The newspaper reported that the decision to award the 5G SA contracts to these two vendors had been adopted by Telefonica last week.
For the transition from 5G NSA to 5G SA, Telefonica will use its 22,000 base stations across Spain and 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band as well as the frequencies it intends to bid for in next month’s 700 MHz band auction.
Telefonica had previously worked with Ericsson and Nokia for the deployment of 2G, 3G and 4G networks across the country.
The Spanish operator still has to select the vendors for the deployment of its 5G core network.
Telefónica recently said it has extended the coverage of its 5G network to over 80% of the country’s population as of the end of the first quarter of 2021, having installed more than 4,300 nodes that offers coverage to more than 37 million inhabitants.
In a release, the telco said that its 5G network currently reaches 1,253 towns and cities across Spain.
The company launched its 5G service in September 2020 and had committed to deploy 5G in 921 towns and cities covering 75% of the Spanish population by the end of 2020.
During this first quarter of 2021, the deployment has focused on completing the coverage in the cities deployed last year and reaching cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants.
Telefónica’s 5G network currently combines the deployment of 5G NSA and DSS (Dynamic Spectrum Sharing).
The telco is offering its 5G service through spectrum in the 3.5 GHz and 1.8-2.1 GHz bands.
The Spanish government has applied a 15% reduction to the starting price of 5G frequencies in the 700 MHz band as it had been requested by local carriers. The total starting price for the seven blocks of frequencies has been cut from around 1.2 billion euros ($1.45 billion) to 995 million euros ($1.20 billion). The licenses will be valid for a total of 40 years.
Applications to participate in the 700 MHz auction are due by July 2, with the auction expected to take place before July 21.
