Nokia bags gear deals from Optus, TPG Telecom, One NZ

Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia Wednesday said multiple telecom operators, including Optus and TPG Telecom, and One NZ in New Zealand, will deploy the latest Nokia Interleaved Passive Active Antenna (IPAA+), which will accelerate the 5G deployments in the Oceania region.

Optus has already started rolling out an 8T8R variant of Nokia’s IPAA, while TPG Telecom and One NZ plan to commence deployments later this year, Nokia said.

Nokia said the IPAA+ antenna’s modular design supports a wide range of frequencies, from 700 MHz to 2.6 GHz and the 3.5 GHz 5G band in a compact form.

The gear maker said these latest antennas have been developed in joint collaboration with CommScope, and claimed to have develop an Optus-specific variant that incorporates a 2.3 GHz 8T8R array easing the deployment of both 2300 and 3500 TDD bands within the same antenna footprint.

“We are thrilled that several service providers have placed their trust in Nokia’s state-of-the-art products and have taken the lead in deploying IPAA+ in the region,” said Rob Joyce, Chief Technology Officer at Nokia Oceania. “These products address a major pain point of our customers by allowing a single integrated 5G antenna to cover all sub-6GHz 5G frequency bands.”