Tele2 said it has chosen Nokia as the supplier of its 5G core network, with deployment expected to start this year. Nokia said the agreement covers Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and concerns Standalone (SA) 5G Core and Voice over 5G (Vo5G) service. The cloud infrastructure and mobile applications will enable improved data and voice connectivity as well as enterprise services such as network slicing and edge computing.
Thomas Helbo, EVP for technology at Tele2, said the operator chose Nokia as a knowledgeable partner able to deploy its 5G core in a reliable way, based on the vendor’s years of experience.
Nokia will deploy cloud and network management products from its CloudBand, Network Services Platform (NSP) and NetAct portfolios to secure, automate and scale network management operations. It said CloudBand is a vendor-agnostic, multi-technology and multi-domain platform that will enable Tele2 to integrate existing and future systems easily. Nokia products will be deployed via cloud-native Nokia Container Services, which integrate multi-vendor and multi-technology environments. It will also deploy NetGuard Security products to support the digitalised network infrastructure.
Nokia said it will deploy new Subscriber Data Management software to streamline Tele2's network operations. It will support Tele2’s strategy of providing Voice over 5G (Vo5G).Nokia claims to lead the market in CSP core network deployments with 25 of the top 40 service providers using its core network products.
Nokia’s 5G core offers near-zero touch automation capabilities for greater scale and reliability, letting Tele2 lay the foundation for 5G in a cost-effective way and enabling faster time to market for new services. The open architecture provides the flexibility to respond to market demands and controls costs at a time of growing network complexity. It will deploy Nokia cloud products to support 4G and 5G core network functions.
Raghav Sahgal, president of Nokia Cloud and Network Services, said it had been supplying Tele2 since the mobile core days of the 1990s and now looks forward to supporting 21st century digital services for more reliable network services.
Tele2 said it began operating Sweden’s first 5G network in 2020 and it is now up and running in more than 30 cities. It claims it is the only one providing actual 5G speeds in Sweden, and that it was the first operator to launch 5G in Latvia, too.
Deployment of Tele2’s new 5G core is expected to start in 2021 and will continue for a number of years. It will support and improve both 4G and 5G connectivity, providing faster speed with lower latency. It will enable new enterprise services, such as network slicing that secures capability for certain traffic and customers, massive numbers of IoT-connected devices, and edge computing for a new level of local automation.
