5G

Nokia helps JV launch standalone 5G network in Singapore

Nokia has helped deploy a 5G standalone RAN sharing network for two mobile operators in Singapore, in what the Finnish vendor called a first for South East Asia.

Nokia secured a deal with Antina, a joint venture between operators M1 and Starhub, for standalone (SA) 5G networks across Singapore.

The 5G SA launch will be completed by this summer, according to a Nokia spokesperson.

In addition to M1 and StarHub, other mobile operators on wholesale agreements to ride on Antina’s networks will be able to tap 5G SA capabilities.  

Nokia is supplying radio access gear from its AirScale portfolio and CloudRAN solutions to help build the RAN portion, utilizing the 3.5 GHz spectrum band, to support SA 5G infrastructure. That includes base stations and small cells for indoor products. The deal also includes network management and application manager and CloudBand Infrastructure software to help reduce complexity and securely manage Antina’s networks.

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Nokia introduced its second-generation 5G cloud RAN solution in June 2020.

For the 5G SA network, the vendor pointed to increased cost efficiencies and new use cases across entertainment, cloud gaming, transportation and others.

Enterprises in Singapore will also be able to explore new applications because of higher bandwidth and uplink speeds as well as lower latency, according to the announcement.

“This is an important win for Nokia that demonstrates our leadership in commercial-grade Cloud RAN as well as mobile operators’ trust in our capabilities for rapidly transitioning to 5G standalone networks,” said Tommi Uitto, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, in a statement. “We look forward to supporting Antina in the deployment of a successful rollout of the 5G SA network in Singapore which aligns with the country’s vision of creating a world-class 5G infrastructure.

In other Nokia news Monday, the vendor claimed a 5G speed record of 4.5 Gbps, which it said is the first to be achieved on 5G New Radio only.

RELATED: Ericsson, Qualcomm, Telstra claim 5 Gbps speed record using 5G carrier aggregation

The trial was conducted with operator Turk Telekom in Ankara, Turkey, utilizing live commercial Nokia 5G RAN gear and a single user device. The data transfer happened over millimeter wave spectrum only – using 800 MHz of bandwidth in the 26 GHz band.

Earlier this year partners Ericsson, Qualcomm and Telstra hit peak 5G speeds of 5 Gbps for a single user on a commercial network. It leveraged carrier aggregation with 800 MHz of mmWave in the 28 GHz band, as well as two 20-megahertz of 4G LTE CA, for a total of 840 MHz of spectrum.  

Samsung then topped that in early March, hitting 5.32 Gbps, with the help of EN-DC technology and carrier aggregation – also using 800 MHz for 5G NR and 40 MHz for 4G LTE.