According to recent reports, Nokia announced that it has signed a five-year agreement with Norwegian mobile operator Ice to upgrade and expand its 5G wireless network infrastructure across the country. Under the contract, Nokia will provide equipment from its comprehensive, energy-efficient AirScale portfolio to support different frequency bands. The company notes that it will upgrade about 3,200 base stations to meet modern standards. There will also be an additional 3,900 new base stations. Deployment has already begun and will continue until 2026, Nokia said. Nokia is also growing massively, from only 50 deals in 2019, the company now has over 200 5G deals.
In March 2022, diversified utility company Lyse completed its acquisition of Ice. Ice currently has over 700,000 customers and its 4G and 5G networks cover 95% of Norway’s population. The company initially launched 5G services in Oslo (Norway’s capital and largest city) in November 2021. In September 2021, the company also received a national spectrum license for 3.6GHz.
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Currently, Nokia is in fierce competition with Ericsson and Huawei for 5G market share. There are also reports that Nokia have 5G public agreements with operators such as T-Mobile, Telia and SoftBank. In addition, Nokia is also working on 6G. In June, CEO Pekka Lundmark said at a panel discussion that 6G is expected to be commercially available around 2030.
Nokia is sweeping through the Scandinavia
It appears that Scandinavia countries seem to prefer Nokia in their 5G network. The company already have 5G contracts with multiple operators in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Now, it is adding Norway to the list. Regarding its expansion into Finland, Nokia’s CEO, Pekka Lundmark, said: “We are delighted to extend our long-standing partnership with Telia Company. For over half a century we have worked with Telia to deliver best-in-class connectivity – now that continues into the 5G era, as we supply Telia’s RAN technology in Finland and its core 5G network across the Nordic and Baltic nations. I look forward to continuing our close collaboration with Telia for years to come.”
