Vodafone NZ picks Nokia to drive network innovation with 6G

Nokia has signed an innovation focused Memorandum of Understanding with Vodafone NZ to collaborate on the development of new applications and services enabled by the capabilities of Nokia’s advanced mobile network technology.

The collaborative agreement, which comes as the two organisations celebrate 30 years of partnership in New Zealand, will focus on accelerating the opportunities of Vodafone’s extensive 4G/5G network. The companies will also look to explore the capabilities of 5GAdvanced and 6G networks in the future.

Through joint resource investment in technology validation, demos and field trials, it will seek
to further ignite innovation in advanced networks, developing commercial opportunities and
future use cases in areas from network slicing and private networks to industrial automation,
artificial intelligence, machine learning, Edge compute and 6G enabled future.

The collaboration will keep New Zealand at the forefront of global advances in network technology and enable it to play a key role in shaping how the next generation of
technologies will be used to enhance peoples lives, the economy and the environment.

“Nokia has a proud 30 year history of bringing the world’s best mobile technology to New Zealand with Vodafone, most recently helping Vodafone deliver a world class 5G network. This collaboration will pave the way forward to 5G-Advanced and ultimately 6G,” says
Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia. “New Zealand has a thriving and dynamic telecommunications environment, which provides a perfect backdrop to pioneer innovation - innovation that will enable incredible advances in connectivity, services and the associated digital transformation.”

“At Vodafone we’re helping customers unlock the magic of technology, and to do that, they need fast, reliable connectivity. We have invested extensively in our 4G and 5G networks with Nokia and the innovation collaboration announced today is an awesome next step”, said Tony Baird, Vodafone New Zealand’s Wholesale & Infrastructure Director. “A relentless
focus on innovation - and bringing leading technology and expertise to Aotearoa - is how we help Kiwi businesses, industry and people realise the huge potential of advanced mobile networks in the short term, while putting us firmly on the path towards a 6G future in the longer term.”