Nokia recently inked a deal with Elisa Estonia to deploy the carrier’s 5G services in Finland and enable a seamless transition from its existing 4G infrastructure to the superfast 5G technology.
The five-year deal for an undisclosed amount will enable Nokia to operate as the sole 5G vendor for Elisa Estonia and work collaboratively with it to deploy premium digital services in the near future.
Elisa Estonia operates as a subsidiary of Elisa Finland, which offers telecommunications and digital services to more than 2.8 million customers in Finland, Estonia and international markets. Per the deal, Nokia will provide 5G RAN (radio access network) solutions from its leading AirScale portfolio for extensive dense urban area coverage. The AirScale Radio Access products deliver low-latency, high-capacity mobile connectivity with a low cost of ownership. These can be easily upgraded through a software update, thereby reducing network complexity. The deal will leverage Nokia’s RAN solutions to offer a seamless migration from 4G to 5G as Elisa Finland intends to decommission its 3G network by 2023 while aiming for a 5G rollout in 2022 following the completion of its spectrum auction early next year.
Nokia had earlier deployed its 5G liquid cooling base station solution — AirScale Base Station — to help Elisa Finland curtail its power consumption and CO2 emissions. The innovative product underscored Nokia’s commitment to combat climate change and make networking businesses more sustainable, especially at a time when network operators tend to shift toward experience-driven and automated operations to achieve significant cost savings. The current contract further reinforces its long-standing business relationship with the Finland-based carrier.
By unlocking network efficiencies with common operability, software delivery and increased hardware sharing, Nokia has reduced the total cost of ownership for mobile operators. The company is well-positioned for the ongoing technology cycle, given the strength of its end-to-end portfolio. Its installed base of high-capacity AirScale product is growing fast. Deploying its industry-leading software, 5G RAN and IP-Backhaul solutions for this project, Nokia will help Elisa Estonia tap the enormous potential of 5G to drive innovation in Finland.
