Under the contract, Nokia will supply equipment from its energy-efficient AirScale portfolio including SingleRAN, AirScale base stations and high-capacity 5G MIMO antennas to support different spectrum bands.
Around 3,200 base stations will be modernised while an additional 3900 base stations will be deployed.
The base stations will enhance Ice’s 5G coverage and performance across both dense-urban and wide-area locations.
Deployment has begun and will run until 2026, Nokia has announced.
Tommi Uitto, president of mobile networks at Nokia said: “This is a particularly exciting phase for Ice as 5G is picking up pace in Norway and is establishing a competitive position in the market. We are proud to continue our journey as its long-term partner.
“We have already made great progress with the deployment of 5G services across the country and this new deal will extend coverage to new areas while improving the coverage and performance of the existing footprint.”
Ice is owned by multi-utility company Lyse, which also owns fibre broadband provider Altibox. Collectively, the companies manage nationwide digital infrastructure and mobile frequencies for both 4G and 5G.
Ice and Altibox will work to add new services to its competitive fixed and mobile offering with services such as 5G fixed wireless access.
The operator has 700,000 customers and its 4G and 5G network covers 95% of the population in Norway.
“This deal highlights our continued commitment to investing in our network and giving our subscribers the best possible connectivity experiences,” Eivind Helgaker, CEO at Ice said.
“Nokia has been our technology partner from the very beginning and through active competition they have again convinced us that they are still the right choice.”
“Their technology gives us the flexibility to utilise our spectrum assets to their full capacity and enables us to compete even more strongly in the Norwegian telecommunications market.”
