Nokia is actively involved in 5G standardization. In fact, the company chairs the 5G-PPP Association. Nokia is also participating in an array of partnership trials — with major operators including Verizon Wireless, NTT DOCOMO, Korea Telecom, SK Telecom, and Deutsche Telekom — moving the industry toward commercial 5G systems. Nokia is also collaborating with leading universities in the United States, China, and Europe to make the 5G technologies viable.
5G Nokia trials have joined forces with key vendors to test the equipment that will power 5G networks. It has also developed the Nokia 5G First solution, giving operators the first-to-market advantage by launching 5G use cases before the standards have been finalized.
Source: Nokia
Significant 5G Nokia Trials
In November 2017, Nokia announced its partnership with Vodacom to test how 5G technology can meet demand in South Africa. The companies will focus on the delivery of ultra-HD and virtual reality (VR) video through 5G’s enhanced mobile broadband and ultra-low-latency capabilities.
In October 2017, Nokia announced a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to improve cloud migration and software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) services for enterprises, as well as the development of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) use cases.
In September 2017, Nokia announced plans to collaborate with Qualcomm to conduct interoperability testing and over-the-air field trials based on 3GPP’s 5G New Radio (NR) Release 15 specifications. The purpose of the testing was to drive the mobile ecosystem toward rapid validation and commercialization of 5G NR technologies at scale.
Earlier in 2017, Nokia partnered with AT&T to further advance 5G technology in the 39GHz band by completing fixed-wireless 5G tests with AT&T‘s DIRECTV NOW. Nokia demonstrated how new services can be successfully delivered with new technologies operating at high frequencies.
Nokia 5G First
In February 2017, Nokia introduced its 5G First solution, which the company offers to operators seeking the first-to-market advantage. According to the company, some providers are ready to take advantage of the high-capacity and low-latency connectivity benefits that 5G promises. Since Nokia began its Nokia 5G First deployments in mid-2017, the company has begun pushing for accelerated 3GPP industry standardization while building on its early customer successes.
The Nokia 5G First solution incorporates Nokia’s AirScale massive MIMO Adaptive Antennas, the AirScale Radio Access, and AirScale cloud RAN technology. The Nokia 5G solution also includes Nokia’s Cloud Packet Core (which is a cloud-native core architecture) and 5G Acceleration Services.