Rock Connect picks Nokia to drive broadband in Jamaica

Nokia has been selected by Rock Connect to deploy a 4G-LTE Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network in Jamaica. The project aims to cover 95 percent of the population by 2025. Nokia was selected as the sole vendor in the deal, and will provide its complete solutions portfolio, delivering a customized, digital and 5G-ready network.

The new network will allow Rock Connect to offer a highly competitive alternative to existing fixed networks in terms of speed and capacity, and with faster setup times. The network will also contribute to the reduction of the digital divide, providing broadband services in regions where fiber connectivity is currently not available.

Under the deal, Nokia will provide its latest AirScale product portfolio based on the latest ReefShark System-on-Chip (SoC) chipset. Nokia’s AirScale RAN portfolio is designed for seamless, simple, and efficient ‘plug-in’ deployment and reduced power consumption. Nokia will also provide carrier aggregation with its Wavence portfolio, supporting future 5G backhaul use cases across different frequency bands.

Nokia will deploy its Cloud Packet Core to deliver the flexibility, scale, capacity and performance needed to support the increasing number of users, devices and throughput, enabling Rock Connect to launch new competitive solutions and services to meet business and consumer needs.

Nokia Digital Operations software will also be deployed, helping Rock Connect to reduce operational costs through automating the design and deploy process to accelerate time to market and implementation of new services.

In addition, Nokia will enable configuration, charging, policy, rating, service orchestration and management of services in partnership with Qvantel. Covering commercial product catalog, digital and assisted sales channels, order management, customer care 360 tools, as well as billing and reporting. The jointly deployed solution will empower Rock Connect to evolve with customer demands and monetize any service that can be measured, quickly unlocking new revenue streams for the operator, such as prepaid and postpaid wireless broadband service.

Bruce Bowen, Chairman at Rock Connect, said: “Rock Connect continues to lay the foundation of a reliable and advanced network, with the ability to rapidly deploy new services. We are focused on excelling at customer service. With an agile response to customer demands, we can provide broadband solutions and new opportunities to empower Jamaicans.”

Osvaldo Di Campli, Head of Latin America at Nokia, said: “We are excited to start this journey as a strategic partner of Rock Connect in Jamaica as the only supplier for this greenfield project. We hope to build the foundations for a long-term partnership with our best-in-class portfolio, enabling Rock Connect to enter new markets with broadband options for consumers and business in cities and connecting distant regions for the first time.”

Niilo Neuvo, CTO at Qvantel, said: “Together with Nokia we will provide a platform that will give Rock Connect a competitive advantage in the Jamaican mobile market. Our pre-integrated joint solution provides a powerful digital business platform that really brings a new approach to monetization and BSS. It puts telcos in control of their business and enables new levels of business agility.”