Nornickel successfully trials Nokia’s private wireless network to remotely manage the machinery, video surveillance, and more. The Finnish telecom giant, Nokia, has completed testing with Nornickel, a Russian palladium and nickel mining company, to pilot its private wireless network simultaneously in LTE and 5G bands in Eurasia’s deepest mine. As reported by 5G Radar, Nokia completed the successful test of their pilot project at the Skalysty mine. Nornickel used the network to trial remote-controlled machinery and monitor safety. The private 5G network will also assisted the mining company in ensuring smooth overall operations.
More on the Pilot Project in Russia
As per the announcement made by Nokia and Nornickel, the entities ran a successful pilot project on the Nokia industrial-grade private wireless connected digital mine solution that included Flexi Zone Micro LTE, Nokia Airscale 5G base stations and 4.9/LTE and 5G core hardware and software with a distinct solution for group communications that were critical for the mission. The project was conducted at a depth of 875 meters of the Skalysty mine in Russia.
Also, telecom companies Tele2, Qualcomm and a mining company, SPBEK-Mining, extended their hands to reduce complications and hurdles in the project. The pilot project embedded confidence in Nokia’s private LTE/5G-ready technologies to provide reliable support in facilitating wireless broadband communications in an underground mining environment. Nornickel will use the private 5G network to remotely manage the machinery, video surveillance, and communication between production sites and control centre through voice and data communications.
Nornickel is considering using LTE and later 5G Technologies
Liana Ermishina, who is the Director of the Information Technology Department at Nornickel, said that the world is eyeing the usage of the 5G network in the industrial segment, and our company is no exception. The level of industrial efficiency and automation at the mines developed by Nornickel is constantly elevated, and technologies are being rolled out, driving further requirements for wireless data transmission networks. Nornickel is considering using LTE and later 5G technologies underground because these networks are best suited, and it would aid in the production process.
Looking forward to working with multiple Russian enterprises: Nokia
Demetrio Russo, who is Vice President of Nokia Eastern Europe, marked that Nokia is grateful to work with Nornickel on this project, which provides critical infrastructure for developing digital technologies at Nornickel’s enterprises. Nokia’s 5G solutions are slowly pushing the basic demand levels in the enterprise market, with the share of enterprise customers in Nokia 5G deals reaching 12%. Nokia has developed a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to support many private wireless network deployment scenarios across various industries.
Note: Currently there is no commercial contract between the two companies, they are only doing the pilot test.
