July 30, 2018

T-Mobile inks USD 3.5 billion 5G deal with Nokia

The alliance aims to leverage Nokia’s multiple products to develop and launch high connectivity services covering a wide range of industries.

Tech giants

Telecom giants T-Mobile and Nokia have entered into an alliance to leverage the latter’s 5G connectivity, software and cloud products and provide end-to-end services across different industries and sectors. As per the terms of the deal, T-Mobile will be gaining access to Nokia’s AirScale radio platforms, AirFrame hardware, CloudBand Software and 5G acceleration services to develop, test and deploy next-generation connectivity services.

According to Nokia, China and the U.S. have been early adopters of next-generation mobile technology, with the major U.S. operators ready to deploy 5G for enterprises as well as public use. They claim that in a level playing field, both T-Mobile and Nokia can benefit from the deal since the demand for greater connectivity in both markets is at an all-time high.

By partnering with T-Mobile, Nokia say that the former can gain access to their wide range of cloud and connectivity products to help build T-Mobile’s nationwide 5G network with 600 MHz, compliant with 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) standards.

Nokia claim that this will help them as well as T-Mobile to jointly offer network services to industries like smart cities, utilities, transportation, health, manufacturing, retail, agriculture and government agencies.

Explaining this, Phil Twist, Vice President for marketing at Nokia’s Mobile Networks, commented:

It’s our largest 5G deal to date, and in fact, one of the largest deals Nokia’s ever signed. This underlines and makes concrete that 5G is coming to the market.