Reliance Jio has awarded Nokia a multi-year deal and will purchase 5G RAN (radio access network) equipment from the company. This will be the first time Nokia and Jio are working together. Jio will purchase 5G RAN equipment from the AirScale portfolio of Nokia. Since it is a multi-year deal for Nokia, it would be a big win for the company in the Indian market.
Nokia will provide Jio with base stations, high-capacity 5G massive MIMO antennas, and Remote Radio Heads (RRH) for supporting different spectrum bands and self-organising network software. Jio will be the first telco in India to deploy the 5G SA (standalone) network for enterprises as well as regular consumers. Thus, Jio will be able to offer network slicing and M2M communication services from its network.
Akash Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio, said, "We are pleased to be working with Nokia for our 5G SA deployment in India. Jio is committed to continuously investing in the latest network technologies to enhance the experience of all of its customers. We are confident that our partnership with Nokia will deliver one of the most advanced 5G networks globally."
Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO at Nokia, said, "This is a significant win for Nokia in an important market and a new customer with one of the largest RAN footprints in the world. This ambitious project will introduce millions of people across India to premium 5G services, enabled by our industry-leading AirScale portfolio. We are proud that Reliance Jio has placed its trust in our technology and we look forward to a long and productive partnership with them."
Nokia has been working in the Indian market for quite some time now. The telecom gear vendor has long-standing partnerships with Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel. Airtel has also awarded Nokia a 5G contract for several circles.
Jio Awarded Ericsson a Contract Too
Reliance Jio has also awarded Ericsson, a major competitor to Nokia, a long-term deal for providing 5G radios. Ericsson also has partnerships with other Indian telcos in the 5G domain. Jio was the only customer that the European vendors didn't have in India when it came to private telecom operators.
Reliance Jio has also developed indigenous 5G solutions, which the telco displayed at the recently concluded India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022. It would be interesting to see how much Jio relies on its solutions for deploying 5G networks and how much help it takes from the other vendors.
