Nokia said it has concluded a successful trial of 4G/5G fixed wireless access (FWA) network slicing with mobile operator Safaricom in Africa.
The Finnish vendor said it’s the first time 4G/5G network slicing has been achieved in Africa.
The trial used a multi-vendor network environment and included Radio Access Network (RAN), transport and core as well as software upgrades to a range of Nokia products and services. The press release did not specify the other vendors.
What it boils down to for Safaricom is it’s now able to support new types of enterprise network services, including fast lane internet access and application slicing, according to Nokia.
The pilot took place in Kenya’s western region. Nokia provided its AirScale 4G/5G base stations, the NetAct network management and assurance system and the Nokia FastMile 4G/5G CPE.
Network slicing is often cited as a benefit of moving to the 5G standalone (SA) version of the 5G New Radio (NR) specification, where the core no longer relies on 4G LTE. But a couple years ago, Nokia decided to pursue this 4G/5G combination while the 5G SA device ecosystem catches up.
Nokia says its 4G/5G slicing solution supports LTE, 5G non-standalone (NSA) and 5G SA technologies with slice service continuity between the networks.
Network slicing gives operators the ability to divide a network into multiple virtual slices, which they can then optimize for a specific target application or service. Users of each network slice can be assigned different priorities, routing, levels of network performance and security capabilities.
“We are proud to have hosted Africa’s first successful pilot of 4G/5G FWA slicing on our network, and looking forward to tailoring our service offerings to individual customers and industries, to meet their needs for high-speed connectivity precisely and without unnecessary cost,” said James Maitai, network director at Safaricom, in a statement. “Nokia’s expertise has been key to this success, and we anticipate many more strategic wins in this area as our business expands.”