Telenor Group and Nokia to pilot 5G capabilities in Denmark

(Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, 25 February 2019) Telenor Group and Nokia today announce a joint trial in Denmark designed to verify 5G capabilities such as enhanced Mobile Broadband and Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication for commercial use cases.

Telenor Group and Nokia will test 5G capabilities in both the Radio Access Network (RAN) and the mobile core network in Denmark.

Nokia will deploy AirScale base stations for piloting 5G in Telenor Denmark’s commercial radio access network and will also test new functions in the cloud-core network as part of the 5G pilot.

Telenor Group recently entered into an agreement with Nokia to deliver AirGile cloud-native core solutions in a modernisation effort of the core mobile networks in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The enhancement of the core solution will support the 5G radio access network and will prepare Telenor to further scale across Telenor Group’s Scandinavian operations.

“Our customers demand high performance, responsive, reliable and secure connectivity and service offerings. It’s important for Telenor to evaluate different technological, functional and commercial 5G solutions with our vendors and we are very pleased to partner with Nokia to test the new technology in Denmark and across Scandinavia,” said Ruza Sabanovic, Telenor Group Chief Technology Officer.

Federico Guillen, president of customer operations, Nokia said: “Nokia is working with all the major operators in the lead 5G markets globally, is the largest R&D investor in Europe and offers an unmatched end-to-end 5G portfolio. As a trusted partner to Telenor Group, where our AirGile 5G ready cloud-native core is being deployed across eight countries, we are excited to define and test concrete 5G use cases leveraging Nokia’s networking and services capabilities.”

The trials will support 5G use cases such as robotics control, industrial automation, 5G/LTE dual connectivity and Fixed Wireless Access for high performance last mile connectivity.

The trials, which start in Q2 2019, will also verify Telenor Group’s strategy to evolve its cloud infrastructure to support LTE and new 5G based services leveraging edge cloud deployments.

In addition to its Scandinavian mobile operations, Telenor Group and Nokia have previously announced deployment of a cloud-native core solution in Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Currently, this platform is running more than 60 percent of data traffic in these operations.