Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia Oyj has won a contract worth €400 million (around $450 million) with Taiwan Mobile for being the sole supplier of 5G telecommunication networking equipment. With the pandemic raging across the world, a strong and stable internet is the need of the hour. Many businesses, corporate professionals, educational institutions, etc. have important people working from home, and this results in a demand for an uninterrupted internet connection. Thus the ISPs are working round the clock to provide a stable lag free internet experience to their subscribers using the new 5G or fifth generation telecom network. One such ISP is Taiwan Mobile.
Nokia bags contract with Taiwan Mobile for a 3 year deal on Standalone and Non Standalone 5G networks
With this deal, Taiwan Mobile will first deploy non-standalone network 5G infra, and later make the move to standalone later on. Non-standalone network is one that uses existing 4G towers for 5G networks. This will upgrade the 4G towers to 5G and the 5G services can be deployed in a shorter period of time. Within the 3 years of this deal, Taiwan Mobile will gradually shift to standalone networks, and broaden the use case for 5G. One such area is workforce automation.
The first phase of the deal will make use of Nokia’s 5G RAN(Radio Access Network), 5G Core, and 5G IMS(IP Multimedia Subsystem) for deploying non standalone networks in Taiwan. For the 5G Core, Taiwan Mobile will use Nokia’s Unified Data Management, Signalling and other data analytics services. Taiwan had a spectrum auction earlier this year, and obtained 60MHz in the 3.5GHz band along with 200MHz in the 28GHz band. Nokia has promised a low latency network with amazing connectivity and capacity.
“We are pleased to join forces with Nokia again in the 5G era,” said Jamie Lin, President at Taiwan Mobile. “After the successful launch of 5G, both sides will continue to advance deployment and provide the best coverage and connectivity experiences in the market.
Mr. Lin further stated “More importantly, the two companies will work together to promote our ‘Super 5G Strategy,’ which integrates multiple vertical applications including smart e-commerce, smart stadium, smart healthcare and smart manufacturing. This approach is designed to build a thriving ecosystem that will create new possibilities for every user and enterprise in the 5G era.”
Battle of the Brands
This announcement comes as Finland’s Nokia battles it out with Sweden’s Ericsson and China’s Huawei to install 5G cell towers across the globe. The Chinese company, Huawei has got a number of subsidies from the Chinese government which was offering enticing offers to telecom companies in purchasing their equipment. However, this backfired as many countries are refraining from purchasing 5G gear from Chinese countries due to the United States ban on Huawei, accusing them of spying, and also of them being owned by the Chinese Communist Party
COVID-19 Pandemic and it’s effect on the current networks
In a Mobility Report recently released, Swedish equipment provider Ericsson had concluded that the onset of the current global pandemic has driven up consumer expectations from 5G. This is due to the fact that lockdowns and other disruptions to daily life have increased the roles technology in general and connectivity in specific play in their lives.
