Nokia has tied up with Bharti Airtel to conduct trial of a front-haul solution that will help to speed 5G operations
The possible exclusion of Huawei on security grounds will not delay the rollout of next-generation 5G services in European markets, said Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri.
The United States and several countries in Europe are considering banning China’s Huawei Technologies, even as big telecom operators warn that such a move could set back the deployment of 5G by years.
Suri, however, has downplayed concerns that a reduced field of technology vendors could slow network upgrades. The real reasons for Europe’s growing 5G lag behind the United States are hold-ups in issuing spectrum to operators, as well as high auction costs in countries such as Italy, he told Reuters.
“You cannot say that you know the situation caused by some of this will delay 5G rollout or that others are not capable or ready to provide equipment. That would not be accurate,” Suri said on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2019) in Barcelona.
Nokia’s 5G Plans
The Finnish company announced a key win in Australia, which has banned Huawei, saying it would provide a 5G fixed-wireless access network to operator Optus, with 50 sites to go live by March.
Nokia has made an agreement with Korea Telecom to conduct 5G trials for service automation, network virtualisation and slicing, which allows multiple networks to run on top of shared infrastructure.
Nokia will cooperate with Britain’s Vodafone on active antennas to boost 5G capacity and cut costs.
In India, Nokia has tied up with Bharti Airtel to conduct trial of a front-haul solution that will help to speed 5G operations.
