Orange Group will use Nokia’s Airscale platform to test various 5G-based applications at the Nokia Paris Saclay location outside Paris and at the Nokia campus in Lannion, France. People at those two sites will also collaborate with Orange's R&D sites at Orange Gardens in Chatillon and Orange Labs in Lannion.

The two companies will be testing ultra-broadband, cloud-RAN, massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO), network slicing, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

Orange will use the Nokia Flexi Base Station coupled with the AirScale portfolio of products, which includes the radio platform and the data center platform. It will also use Nokia’s telco cloud and various cybersecurity technologies to create 5G applications.

US Cellular also used Nokia’s AirScale platform (which the company claims is 5G-ready) for some preliminary 5G tests back in October. At the time, US Cellular used Nokia’s AirScale platform to stream six simultaneous channels of 4K video.

This isn’t Orange’s only move in 5G. Earlier this year the company announced it was teaming with Ericsson and PSA Group to conduct 5G tests that incorporate vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology for connected car applications. Initial tests will use LTE and then evolve to LTE-V and 5G.

PSA Group makes Peugeot, Citroën and DS automobiles.