Nokia unveils Habrok AirScale 5G radios at MWC

Nokia has launched Habrok, its latest generation of cutting-edge AirScale massive MIMO radios for all mobile operator and enterprise networks, at Mobile World Congress 2023.

Habrok radios are powered by Nokia’s state-of-the-art, new generation of ReefShark System-on-Chip (SoC) and are available in both 32 TRX (Habrok 32) and 64 TRX (Habrok 64) versions, covering all massive MIMO use cases and deployment scenarios. This new generation of radios enables form-factor improvements over earlier generations, with the Habrok 64 weighing only 24 kg.

Habrok also has high output power for increased coverage while its lower power consumption improves energy efficiency dramatically.

Nokia Habrok AirScale 5G radios

It’s optimized to deliver best-in-class capacity and network performance while enabling efficient deployments and operation. Nokia’s latest massive MIMO radio products will become available from late 2023.

Designed for complete spectrum flexibility and network performance, initially supporting band n78, both Habrok 32 and Habrok 64 support high radio frequency bandwidth, 200 MHz occupied bandwidth (OBW) and 400 MHz instantaneous bandwidth (IBW), enabling the use of fragmented spectrum allocations and network sharing cases. The sleek, lightweight Habrok 64 is approximately 30 percent lighter than its predecessors, making it easier to install and faster to deploy, accelerating 5G network deployment. The products also offer even higher energy efficiency by using 30 percent less energy, lowering the total cost of ownership.

Habrok radios offer scalable capacity for single and multi-carrier performance, featuring the latest technologies to deliver high radio frequency output power. Habrok, which is named after a bird in Norse mythology, joins Nokia’s comprehensive AirScale RAN portfolio that also includes the Osprey radios, Nokia’s first fully SoC-based high-performance massive MIMO products.

Enhanced AirScale Portfolio: Dual-band mMIMO radio
Nokia has also announced new optimized additions to its AirScale Osprey portfolio. This includes the first AirScale Osprey 64 dual-band mMIMO radio, which covers the entire US C-band as well as the 3.45G band in a single-box solution. Nokia has also several new multiband remote radio heads, each simplifying site solutions and lowering the total cost of ownership.

Impact at Scale: Reduced AirScale Energy Consumption
In addition to simplifying deployments, Nokia has also made significant advances in energy efficiency with its comprehensive RAN portfolio. Nokia has reduced the energy consumption of its latest products by some 30 percent through a combination of software, hardware, and services – including Nokia’s digital design for energy efficiency and energy efficiency-related suite of software features – overall, this can reduce energy consumption by 36 percent.

Nokia Mobile Networks Services

Nokia is also launching a range of digital innovations in design, deploy and care services to support the lifecycle of a customer’s network and maximize their investment. This includes an integrated analytics tool ecosystem driving digital network design and optimization services helping customers reach their target performance 30 percent faster. Nokia is also announcing new outdoor all-in-one cabinets and outdoor zero footprint site solutions with new energy products that minimize footprint, installation time and simplify maintenance over the site’s lifetime. Nokia will also launch an AI-based case-handling transformation service featuring Nokia Digital Assistant Advanced, for a superior support experience for customers, helping them resolve incidents 30 percent faster.

Nokia at Mobile World Congress 2023

At MWC 2023, Nokia will showcase the new Habrok radios as well as its latest high-performance, high-capacity AirScale product and services portfolio at its stand in Hall 3.

Guests will be invited to take different journeys covering different focus areas across Nokia’s comprehensive portfolio including Radio Leadership, Performance Innovation, Energy Efficiency, Operational Efficiency and Cloud RAN.

Joe Madden, Chief Analyst at Mobile Experts, said: “Mobile operators need these significant improvements in size, weight, and power consumption as they put together multi-band 5G networks. Instead of installing multiple radio units, these wideband radios will make field installation much cleaner and simpler.”

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “We are proud to unveil Habrok, our latest generation of industry-leading AirScale radios that deliver future-ready performance. Powered by our cutting-edge ReefShark chipsets, these optimized products redefine radio performance with ultra-fast 5G speeds and capacity where it is needed. They are extremely lightweight making them easy to install and support wide bandwidths in both instantaneous and occupied bandwidth. These products are built with energy efficiency in mind, highlighting our continued commitment to reducing our CO2 footprint and supporting our customers in reaching their sustainability targets. We can’t wait to see these new products deliver incredible 5G experiences to mobile subscribers around the world.”