As part of the agreement, Nokia will supply O-RAN-compliant 5G AirScale equipment
Finnish vendor Nokia has announced a four-year contract extension with Orange France with the aim of enhancing its 5G radio infrastructure using Nokia’s energy-efficient AirScale portfolio.
In a release, Nokia said that the new agreement will provide “faster speeds, increased capacity and superior network performance” across Orange’s Southeastern and Western France footprint. Additionally, Orange will conduct trials of Nokia’s 5G Cloud RAN solutions to explore the transition towards Cloud RAN technology.
As part of the agreement, Nokia will supply O-RAN-compliant 5G AirScale equipment, including its high-capacity baseband solutions, lightweight, high-output Massive MIMO Habrok radios and the Pandion portfolio of FDD multi-band remote radio heads, ensuring comprehensive coverage for various deployment scenarios. Nokia highlighted that these components are powered by ReefShark System-on-Chip technology, which enhances energy efficiency while delivering robust coverage and performance. Nokia will also provide its AI-powered MantaRay NM network management solution, which supports all radio and mobile core technologies.
Orange France will also evaluate Nokia’s 5G Cloud RAN solutions, the vendor added.
Emmanuel Lugagne Delpon, CTO at Orange France, said: “This new contract extension with Nokia and their industry-leading equipment portfolio will support our pioneering efforts to drive superior customer experience further, reduce our environmental footprint, and make our network as energy efficient as possible.”
“We are excited to continue our long-standing partnership with Orange France and contribute positively towards their network performance, sustainability goals, and commitment to net carbon neutrality. Our energy-efficient AirScale portfolio and AI-powered MantaRay network management solution will enhance Orange’s network performance and deliver premium connectivity experiences to Orange customers,” said Tommi Uitto, president of mobile networks at Nokia.
Orange initially launched commercial 5G services in 15 municipalities at the beginning of December 2020.
Last year, Orange noted that enterprise customers started testing its 3.5 GHz-based 5G SA service, branded 5G+, adding that the telco was preparing further offers for the consumer and B2B markets in 2025. The operator highlighted that it made extensive use of its 5G SA network during the Olympic Games in Paris last year.
In 2023, the business division of Orange started to offer a hybrid public/private standalone 5G solution in France, combining simultaneous access to its public network with private network deployments for enterprises.
This “two-in-one solution” had been tested at Orange’s base in Arcueil, south of Paris; the firm said it variously mixes network slicing, edge computing, and local data ‘break-out’ (edge-based data analysis) across twin public/private 5G infrastructure. Orange is “actively investing in the construction” of hybrid 5G networks in France, it said; its two units have been “constantly innovating to continue to develop services and use [cases]”, it added.
The hybrid solution is being offered as a managed service to France-based enterprises by Orange Business.
