Telia Finland picks Nokia Core software for 5G SA innovation under EU-funded ‘Sirius’ program

Nokia’s 5G Standalone Core SaaS has been selected by Telia Finland, under a European Union (EU)-funded innovation program ‘Sirius’, to deploy a fully automated and scalable software model, and expedite rolling out and monetising 5G network services.

Telia Finland, working in close collaboration with Nokia, aims to create a 5G Standalone Core stack and be the first telco in Finland to open its network to application developers to create new software applications for industries, such as transportation.

“Telia Finland is using European Union funding to help with the creation of 5G SA corridors among highways and seaways for the innovation program, Sirius,” Nokia said in a statement.

The two telecom companies have also signed a pact that will see Sirius utilising Nokia’s Network as Code platform with the developer portal for enabling the creation of software applications for new enterprise, industrial, and consumer use cases. It will also help the telco monetise its 5G network in innovative ways beyond connectivity in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-first model.

Supporting the 5G SA innovation program Sirius, Nokia’s platform will provide application developers with tools such as Software Development Kits (SDK) and network Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which will give access to exposed functionality within Telia’s network and enable developers to build new use cases and capabilities for their customers.

“We are delighted to deepen Nokia’s partnership with Telia Finland through our innovative telecom SaaS offerings. Nokia offers a complete, cloud native 5G Core solution which provides Telia with a more agile and customer-centric pathway for operating its network and rapidly delivering new 5G services,” said Fran Heeran, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Core Networks, Cloud and Network Services, at Nokia.

“We have already done a lot of work with Telia in the realm of telco APIs, so this agreement we are announcing today allows us to accelerate this work and jointly empower developers to create new and enhanced software applications through Telia’s network,” said Shkumbin Hamiti, Head of Network Monetization Platform, Cloud and Network Services, at Nokia.

“Telco SaaS and telco APIs are important catalysts for creating new services and experiences for our customers, and giving Telia new opportunities for extracting value from programmable persona of 5G network assets and enabling new value creation,” said Jari Collin, CTO at Telia Finland.