Nokia today announced that it has won a five-year deal with Norwegian mobile operator Ice to upgrade and expand its 5G radio network infrastructure nationwide. Deployment is already underway and will run until 2026.
Under the contract, Nokia will supply equipment from its energy-efficient AirScale portfolio, including Single RAN, AirScale base stations, and high-capacity 5G Massive MIMO antennas to support different spectrum bands.
Approximately 3200 base stations will be modernized and an additional 3900 new base stations will be deployed. These solutions will boost Ice’s 5G coverage and performance and cover all deployment scenarios from dense-urban capacity to wide-area coverage. In particular, Nokia’s solutions will enable Ice to take advantage of its broad spectrum holdings. Nokia will also provide its NetAct solution for network management and seamless daily network operations as well as optimization and technical support services.
A nationwide digital infrastructure
Ice has over 700,000 customers and its high-quality 4G and 5G network covers 95 percent of the population in Norway. Nokia has a long-standing partnership with Ice and also provides its core network. Ice is owned by the multi-utility company, Lyse, which also owns fiber broadband provider, Altibox. Collectively, the companies manage nationwide digital infrastructure as well as mobile frequencies for both 4G and 5G. Under this new arrangement, Ice and Altibox will be able to add new services to their competitive fixed and mobile offer, such as 5G Fixed Wireless Access.
Norwegian telecommunications market
Eivind Helgaker, CEO, Ice, commented: “This deal highlights our continued commitment to investing in our network and giving our subscribers the best possible connectivity experiences. 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 utilize our spectrum assets to their full capacity and enables us to compete even more strongly in the Norwegian telecommunications market.”
Mette Olsen Killingberg, rollout manager at Ice: "Ice has worked with Nokia for many years. It works well and customers are happy, with Nokia we have already built one of the best in the world, and Norway's most stable network. We have no doubt that this will continue when we now expand and build a national 5G network."
Commitments to sustainability
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. Our industry has a big role to play in the green transition of societies, and our energy-efficient AirScale portfolio supports Ice’s commitments to sustainability.”
