Nokia wins multi-year 5G RAN deal from Virgin Media O2

Nokia has extended its association with British telecoms operator, Virgin Media O2, by winning a new three-year deal to supply its latest radio access network (RAN) equipment from the AirScale portfolio.

Virgin Media O2 will invest in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks, under the deal. The agreement between the two companies covers the Southern parts of the United Kingdom including London, as per a statement by Nokia Monday.

Nokia will supply Virgin Media O2 with its latest generation of Habrok massive MIMO radios and AirScale Baseband and Interleaved Passive Active Antennas (IPAA), both powered by ReefShark System-on-Chip (SoC).

“This will bring enhanced 5G performance to O2 customers while increasing energy efficiency,” said Nokia.

The gear maker will also supply its Single RAN solution that enables one base station to run 5G, 4G, 3G, and 2G simultaneously which is expected to enable Virgin Media O2 accelerate its 5G coverage rollout. Virgin Media O2 will also use Nokia’s NetAct network management system. Nokia will also provide digital design and deployment as well as optimization and technical support services.

As part of the deal, Virgin Media O2 has the option to launch a pilot of Nokia’s commercial intelligent controller to demonstrate the promise of advanced 5G use cases.

“The agreement also means that Virgin Media O2 may pilot 5G Cloud RAN in the future, enhancing the potential of existing cloud infrastructure with 5G wireless connectivity,” said Nokia. The gear will also provide its Digital Operations Center to manage the design, deployment, and assurance of services across different network domains, including a solution that supports network modernisation and security of the network.

“Continuing our partnership with Nokia will help us to deliver even better 5G with higher speeds and lower latency, as well as ensuring we are set up for future growth in line with our customers’ ever-evolving demands and needs,” said Jeanie York, Chief Technology Officer at Virgin Media O2.

“This extended deal will see even more people benefit from enhanced mobile connectivity delivered by our latest generation of AirScale solutions that will help build the foundations for the United Kingdom’s digital transformation,” said Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia.

In March, Nokia’s Swedish rival Ericsson won a multimillion GBP contract from Virgin Media O2 to expand 4G and 5G coverage in major cities and towns across the United Kingdom (UK).

Ericsson is supplying its latest products and solutions from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Additional service upgrades and small cell solutions are included as part of the network modernisation.

Ericsson and Virgin Media O2 will also deploy quad-technology baseband, multiband and 5G Massive MIMO radio AIR 3258 across the network.

“As part of the agreement Virgin Media O2 could also become one of the first Communications Service Providers (CSPs) in Europe to trial Ericsson’s Cloud RAN solution, offering a seamless evolution to cloud-native technologies and open network architecture,” the companies had said.