The technology is fully integrated into DT’s live commercial network and the initial network segment will provide 2G, 4G, and 5G commercial services to customers in the Neubrandenburg area of Northern Germany.
The news follows the memorandum of understanding signed by both companies at MWC 2023 and marks the reintroduction of Nokia to DT’s commercial network.
With the project already in progress, Nokia will replace the incumbent vendor in the deal and the project will be extended from Q1 2024 onwards.
“Open RAN is crucial to Deutsche Telekom’s strategy to promote greater supplier diversity and accelerate customer-oriented innovation in the radio access network,” said Claudia Nemat, board member of Deutsche Telekom AG for TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION.
“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.”
Specifically, 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 give DT 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.
“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,” added Tommi Uitto, president of mobile networks at Nokia.
“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.”
