Nokia will deliver 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment such as high-capacity 5G massive MIMO antennas, base stations, and RRH from its AirScale portfolio, while Ericsson will supply 5G RAN products and solutions to the Indian telecommunications company
Nokia and Ericsson awarded multi-year 5G contracts by Jio. (Credit: Honni Banni/Wikimedia Commons)
Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio), an Indian communications service provider, has signed multi-year 5G contracts with Nokia and Ericsson to develop a 5G standalone (SA) network in India.
Under its contract, Nokia will deliver 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment from its AirScale portfolio. These include high-capacity 5G massive MIMO antennas, base stations, and remote radio heads (RRH) that support various spectrum bands, as well as self-organising network software.
Nokia president and CEO Pekka Lundmark said: “This is a significant win for Nokia in an important market and a new customer with one of the largest RAN footprints in the world.
“This ambitious project will introduce millions of people across India to premium 5G services, enabled by our industry-leading AirScale portfolio. We are proud that Reliance Jio has placed its trust in our technology and we look forward to a long and productive partnership with them.”
Ericsson, under its contract, will supply energy efficient 5G RAN products and solutions from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio along with E-band microwave mobile transport solutions for the Jio 5G network.
Ericsson president and CEO Börje Ekholm said: “India is building world-class digital infrastructure that will drive innovation, job creation and entrepreneurship across the country.
“We are happy to partner with Jio in those ambitions, through Ericsson 5G Standalone connectivity, which will be a major catalyst in meeting those digital transformation goals across society, enterprise and industry.”
Jio intends to deploy a 5G standalone network that will interwork with its 4G network. The company is expected to provide advanced 5G services such as network slicing, massive machine-to-machine communications, and ultra-low-latency.
The signing of the 5G contracts by Jio follows the recently concluded 5G spectrum auction held by the Indian government’s Department of Telecommunications. In the auction, Jio acquired 24,740MHz spectrum in multiple wave bands for a price of INR880.7bn ($10.7bn).