Vodafone taps Nokia to deliver 5G across Australia

After a four-year trial that will end with commercial launch in the first half of 2020, Nokia technology will be used by Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) in the roll-out of the operator’s 5G network in the country.

VHA will switch on its first group of 5G sites in and around the Parramatta region of New South Wales in the coming months. The sites originally made up a test network that Nokia used to demonstrate its technology, but are now set to become the first area of commercial coverage for the 5G network and will soon be available to customers with a compatible 5G device.

The partnership deal between the two firms will run for at least five years, enabling VHA to place orders with Nokia for site delivery, allowing it to scale up or down the pace of its 5G roll-out according to requirements. Nokia says it has presented an advanced 5G roadmap that will enable 5G for VHA in all the spectrum bands currently in use for 4G, and implementation of new-generation 5G Massive MIMO antennas, delivering substantially increased gains in capacity and performance.

Vodafone CEO Iñaki Berroeta said VHA had been preparing for the evolution of 5G for a long time, and the new partnership paved the way for VHA to deliver 5G to its customers.

“Our focus has always been to deliver the best possible mobile service for our customers,” he said. “With 5G devices only just starting to become more widely available, now is the right time to start rolling out 5G.

“We have worked with Nokia for several years across different elements of our network. It presented a compelling roadmap that, aligned with our 5G objectives, will help us to continue improving our 4G network for our customers.”

Federico Guillén, president, customer operations EMEA and APAC at Nokia, said Nokia was pleased to further strengthen its relationship with VHA. “We are delighted to be working closer with Vodafone Hutchison Australia on transforming its network to deliver superior 5G services to its customers,” he said.

“Nokia’s end-to-end portfolio has a key role to play here, with this deal including 5G radio access network (RAN), IP/optical, microwave, deployment and managed services, as well as software.”