Bulgaria's A1 Group Picks Nokia for 5G SA Cloud RAN Pilot

Nokia has successfully trialed its Cloud RAN solution on A1 Group’s (A1) commercial 5G network in Bulgaria. The trial, which took place in Sofia, saw the companies successfully perform an end-to-end 5G data call (Layer 3 call) utilizing Nokia’s Cloud RAN solution as well as its AirFrame servers.

A1 is testing the capabilities of Cloud RAN technology to assess the value of transforming to the cloud. A commercial 3GPP standard 5G SA device was used during the trial.

This trial demonstrated the progress that has been made toward the commercial viability of larger-scale Cloud RAN deployments. In the trial, the Nokia Cloud RAN vDU (virtualized distributed unit) served radio cells at a distance of more than 15km. Furthermore, operational efficiency was increased using Nokia’s suite of cloud deployment automation tools.

Cloud RAN brings agility, flexibility, and openness for operators and enterprises in collaboration with the wider industry ecosystem. It can deliver innovative technologies and services that help establish new business and revenue models. Nokia’s Cloud RAN solution offers feature performance consistency with purpose-built RAN including seamless continuity and the same carrier-grade high performance.

Nokia recently announced the launch of anyRAN to help mobile operators and enterprises extend their options for building and evolving their radio access networks. Nokia’s approach supports the seamless integration, co-existence, and evolution of Cloud RAN with purpose-built networks powered by Nokia AirScale baseband across all network environments.

Nokia is a long-standing partner of A1 Group, a leading provider of digital services and communications solutions in Central and Eastern Europe, and its 5G supplier across multiple markets that also include Austria, Serbia, and Slovenia. Nokia provides equipment from its AirScale portfolio including 5G RAN and other Nokia AirScale radio access products that deliver incredible speeds, connectivity, and capacity. Nokia also provides its 5G Standalone core network to A1 Serbia and A1 Slovenia.

Todor Tashev, Senior Director at A1BG, said: “A1BG and Nokia successfully executed the trial, integrating Nokia’s Cloud RAN solution with A1BG’s transport and Packet Core networks. We have proved the maturity of the solution, including edge data center and cloud orchestration solutions, provided by Nokia.”

Alexander Kuchar, Director Technology & Business Evolution, A1 Group, said: “This trial is an important milestone as we continue to deliver on our strategy of bringing best-in-class 5G services to our subscribers. Cloud RAN and open interfaces are drivers for building and delivering future generations of cloud-based networks and edge services. It introduces flexibility in the architecture of our infrastructure and related operating model and helps us to deliver innovation and the benefits of digitalization to our customers.”

Christoph Rohr, Head of Customer Business Team at Nokia, said: “This is an important pilot with our long-standing partner, A1 Group. Our customers deserve the flexibility to choose between Cloud and purpose-built RAN. This is what Nokia provides with anyRAN which we underline with this trial. Nokia anyRAN also opens the door for closer collaboration with public cloud providers. Nokia’s collaborative approach to Cloud RAN means we can drive efficiency, innovation, openness, and scale by jointly delivering competitive advantage to organizations embracing Cloud RAN.”