Nokia, Telekom deploying multi-vendor Open RAN in Germany

Nokia and Deutsche Telekom AG (DT) have begun to deploy a multi-vendor Open RAN network with Fujitsu in Germany. The technology is fully integrated into DT’s live commercial network and the initial cluster will provide 2G, 4G, and 5G commercial services to customers in the Neubrandenburg area of Northern Germany.

The deal marks a significant return for Nokia into DT’s commercial network and is the realization of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by both companies at MWC 2023. Nokia will replace the incumbent vendor in the deal. The project is already underway and will be extended from Q1 2024 onwards.

Nokia will deploy its commercial Open RAN compliant, high-performance, energy efficient 5G AirScale baseband solution in DT’s commercial network including Fujitsu Radio Units. Nokia’s O-RAN solution will ensure DT has full feature, service, and performance parity with classic purpose-built RAN. Both companies have also agreed to explore O-RAN technology around Cloud RAN, 3rd party CaaS, RIC, SMO, and energy efficiency.

This is another example of Nokia’s anyRAN approach, which aims to build future-ready radio access networks together with an ecosystem of industry partners to unlock collaborative advantage. Nokia anyRAN is designed to give mobile operators and enterprises more flexibility in building their networks. For Open RAN, Nokia develops the required Open Fronthaul features on top of its high-performance RAN software, ensuring co-existence and feature performance parity with purpose-built RAN. Nokia baseband solutions can be combined with both Nokia and third-party radios. For operators, this ensures a smooth evolution path towards hybrid, Cloud RAN, and O-RAN deployments.

Claudia Nemat, Board Member of Deutsche Telekom AG for Technology and Innovation commented: “Open RAN is crucial to Deutsche Telekom’s strategy to promote greater supplier diversity and accelerate customer-oriented innovation in the radio access network. Our commercial deployment with Nokia and Fujitsu is an important step to prepare multi-vendor Open RAN as the technology of choice for future networks.”

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “We are proud to partner with Deutsche Telekom, the largest mobile network operator in Europe, to start deploying a commercial multi-vendor Open RAN network in Germany with Fujitsu. Together, we are making Open RAN a commercial reality. Nokia’s industry-leading radio access portfolio and baseband software ensures that multi-supplier O-RAN systems can be deployed without any compromises in terms of performance, energy efficiency, or security. Together with our ecosystem of partners, we are providing more choice and a higher performance in Open RAN solutions to our customers than they will see from other RAN suppliers. This is another step highlighting Nokia’s commitment to Open RAN.”