Nokia unveiled new ‘5G’-ready radio access solution
BARCELONA, Spain – Finnish vendor Nokia Networks expects to see initial deployments of “5G” networks before 2020, according to company CEO Rajeev Suri.
“2020 is probably where we see global volume deployments but we will start to see a lot of action ahead of 2020 – in 2017, 2018, 2019,” Suri said during a presentation at this week’s Mobile World Congress event.
The executive said Nokia will speed-up investment in 5G this year, adding that 5G-capable equipment is likely to be commercially launched in 2017.
“5G will happen faster than expected,” Suri said.
In support of those claims, the vendor this week launched its AirScale Radio Access solution, which Suri said will meet 5G standards – once they are fully defined – via a software upgrade. The solution is said to support various radio technologies, including 2G, 3G, TDD-LTE, FDD-LTE, LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro, running simultaneously in the base station as a single radio access networking and integrating carrier-grade Wi-Fi access.
The AirScale Radio Access solution includes the company’s AirScale Base Station, which supports new multiband radio frequency elements and system modules; cloud RAN with AirScale Cloud Base Station Server running on AirFrame data center solution; AirScale Wi-Fi, including Wi-Fi Access points and AirScale Wi-Fi Controller running on AirFrame data center solution and common software across Nokia’s radio access; and support for small cells. The vendor said the solution is supported by services utilizing intelligent analytics and automation to maximize the performance of hybrid networks.
Suri also noted smart cities, precision agriculture, industrial “Internet of Things” and health care services will need 5G technology in order to achieve their potential.
Nokia’s investment arm, Nokia Growth Partners, launched a $350 million IoT investment fund to grow the IoT solutions ecosystem. Nokia said the fund will invest in promising companies primarily around connected enterprise, consumer solutions, connected car and digital health.
