Nokia deploys Europe's first 5G SA millimeter wave network for FWA in Italy

Finland's Nokia announced on December 16 that it has signed a four-year contract with Italian telecom operator EOLO for the deployment of a 5G (SA) millimeter wave network. The network is the first 5G SA millimeter wave RAN in Europe and will provide Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services to underserved areas in Italy to help bridge the digital divide in the country.

EOLO is a state-owned telecommunications operator founded in 1999, providing ultra-broadband FWA services to residential and business customers. It covers more than 7,000 municipalities in Italy and has more than 1.6 million customers. In October of this year, the company partnered with Fastweb, a national telecommunications service provider. The two companies had announced plans to combine their frequency bands, FWA infrastructure, and fiber networks to provide high-speed, high-capacity telecommunications services of up to 1 Gbps by download to areas where such services are not currently available.

Under the agreement, Nokia will provide EOLO with the "5G AirScale" portfolio (including "AirScale" baseband solutions, Massive MIMO radios, and remote radio head products), "Shikra" millimeter wave radios, "FastMile" FWA receivers, and other millimeter wave equipment for communications and FWA. Tommi Uitto, the company's President of Mobile Networks, commented on the agreement, "This is an important one that will bring an innovative connectivity experience throughout Italy and help connect underserved areas.

Materials

• Nokia and EOLO deploy Europe's first 5G standalone mmWave network in Italy
• Nokia pairs with EOLO to launch 5G Standalone mmWave network in Italy
• Italy's first 5G SA mmWave network to be used for FWA
• Nokia and EOLO launch Europe's first 5G standalone mmWave network in Italy