Nokia & US Cellular Tie-Up To Increase 5G Capabilities

Bengaluru, NFAPost: Nokia and US Cellular have announced an agreement to add 5G mmWave capabilities in the 24 GHz and 28 GHz spectrum bands.

US Cellular will deploy Nokia’s award-winning AirScale portfolio, with Cloud RAN capabilities, to provide enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) 5G mmWave.

The Nokia AirFrame open-edge solution for Cloud RAN will also be included in the deployments, enabling a virtualized RAN that provides scalable benefits such as, significant Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) reduction through simplification automation, and operation efficiency gains, as well as through the support of open ecosystems.

To support US Cellular’s advanced IoT and enterprise customers, the company has also opted to include Nokia’s Worldwide IoT Network Grid (WING) solution as a deployment component, which allows the scaling of 5G IoT services (to work) faster and more cost-effectively.

5G Modernisation

US Cellular is beginning its multi-year deployment of 5G mmWave now, with commercial availability planned for 2021.

US Cellular CTO Mike Irizarry said US Cellular and Nokia are taking bold steps forward together in the realm of 5G modernization and connectivity.

“With 5G mmWave technology from Nokia, we can provide our customers with the leading-edge capabilities of high performance, ultra-low latency 5G. By readying our network with these key foundational network elements, we can offer an even wider range of communications services that enhance our customers’ wireless experience,” Irizarry stated.

Commenting on the development, Nokia President of Customer Operations for the Americas, Ricky Corker, said Nokia is pleased to extend the company’s relationship with US Cellular with 5G mmWave technology.

“It will enable the company to deliver to its consumer and enterprise customers exciting new 5G services that require lightning performance with no discernable latency. This is a big leap forward in the provision of fast, secure and reliable networks in the Western, Mid-West and Mid-Atlantic regions.”

Extreme capacity

Nokia AirScale Radio Access achieves ultra-low latency, huge connectivity and extreme capacity and more by running all technologies in the same radio access, offering huge capacity scaling and market-leading latency and connectivity.

AirScale Radio Access is an industry-first commercial end-to-end 5G solution enabling operators to capitalize early on 5G.

By investing wisely now, operators can minimize their future CAPEX, target zero emissions to boost profitability and maximize the value of both their licensed and unlicensed spectrum.

Nokia AirFrame data centre solution will run any cloud-based application with ease. Enhancements including advanced packet and crypto acceleration make AirFrame perform better than traditional IT servers.

Supporting open standards and including the latest data centre technology trends, AirFrame will enable full hyper-scale to extremely distributed capabilities that will be necessary for future telco and IT networking and service delivery.

US Cellular is the fourth-largest full-service wireless carrier in the United States, providing national network coverage and industry-leading innovations designed to elevate the customer experience.

The Chicago-based carrier is building a stronger network with the latest 5G technology and offers a wide range of communication services that enhance consumers’ lives, increase the competitiveness of local businesses and improve the efficiency of government operations.

This article first appeared in the NFA Post and is republished with permission.