Finnish Brand Nokia Receives First Major 5G Contract Worth $3.5 Billion

Finnish brand, Nokia, has announced that it has been awarded a $3.5 billion contract from T-Mobile US to accelerate the deployment of a nationwide fifth-generation (5G) network. As part of the deal, Nokia will help build T-Mobile’s 5G network by providing technology, software and services. Separately, Nokia said that this deal has no effect on its recently announced full-year guidance as the contract was already included, a report from IANS added. The Finnish network-equipment vendor said last week that operators looking to build next-generation networks are pressuring prices as they try to fund the upgrades within their existing budgets.

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Speaking on a media call after the company released its second-quarter earnings last week, Chief Executive Rajeev Suri said Nokia isn’t experiencing price pressure at its networks business from competition, but rather that some operators are trying to fund the early adoption of fifth-generation networks within existing budgets instead of increasing their resources.

Both T-Mobile US and Nokia did not disclose the length of the agreement.

A T-Mobile spokesman said the plan was already baked into the company’s capital spending forecast and doesn’t replace Ericsson AB, which also sells gear to the wireless operator.

T-Mobile plans to spend $4.9 billion to $5.3 billion on property and equipment excluding capitalised interest this year.

The carrier has said its planned merger with Sprint would allow the combined company to devote more cash to capital expenditures than the two companies would otherwise be able to spend if left alone.