Nokia and T-Mobile team to build private 5G networks

Recognising the increasing number of enterprise and government customers turning to private/hybrid networks for superfast speeds, lower latency and control over their  connectivity, US operator T-Mobile has forged a partnership with Nokia to develop 5G Private Mobile Networks and Hybrid Mobile Networks.

The new solution will form part of T-Mobile’s newly announced 5G Advanced Network Solutions (ANS), a suite of 5G networks designed to enable applications to help provide enterprise and government customers with what are said to be “superfast” speeds, lower latency and control over their connectivity, with options at the edge.

With ANS, the operator said customers now have a flexible solution that delivers real-world results and next-level performance. T-Mobile added that, until the launch of 5G, Advanced Network Solutions outside of private 5G networks were a challenge.

It said that as America’s 5G leader, T-Mobile – which claims to have the nation’s largest and fastest 5G network – and Nokia are stepping in to bring customers accessible 5G network services that deliver the right performance they need, offering major benefits over Wi-Fi or wired networks. 

Assessing the alternatives to 5G, the operator said options such as Wi-Fi or wired networks come with particular challenges as they have limited coverage, which restricts scalability; limited capacity, which restricts speed and reliability; and limited mobility, which restricts usability.

The operator insists that 5G Advanced Network Solutions addresses each of these head on, using Nokia’s equipment for T-Mobile’s Hybrid Mobile Network and the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud Private Network solution for T-Mobile’s Private Mobile Network solution.

Nokia and T-Mobile have been working together on 5G tests as part of T-Mobile’s 5G Open Innovation Lab, which is designed to bring together global tech platform leaders, industry partners and promising startups to help realise 5G’s potential. Noting that 5G opportunities exist in all business contexts, Nokia and T-Mobile mentor startups to develop 5G proofs of concept and go-to-market strategies.

The partners said their collaboration utilises multiple use cases even in challenging industrial environments, and Nokia has deployed its private 5G technology in a number of such locations.

In March 2022, Nokia announced that it had won a contract to provide industrial-grade private wireless network capability in one of the four copper mines run by Antofagasta Minerals in Chile.

In November 2021, Agnico Eagle Finland Oy’s Kittilä gold mine in northern Finland engaged Nokia – working with mobile operator Telia and its partner Digita – to deliver a 5G SA private wireless network to support advanced Industry 4.0 use cases to accelerate digital transformation.

“Nokia is an established leader in end-to-end private wireless network solutions with extensive experience deploying private networks for enterprise and industry verticals,” said Mishka Dehghan, senior vice-president of strategy, product and solutions engineering at T-Mobile Business Group.

“We have a longstanding trusted partnership with Nokia for our nationwide mobile network, and we are excited to work with Nokia to help enterprises and industry verticals realise the immediate benefits of 5G as they digitise their businesses and improve operations.”

Ed Cholerton, president of Nokia North America, added: “We have built our leadership position in private wireless networks by working with our valued partners.

“This extended partnership will help T-Mobile grow its enterprise customer base across a wide range of industries and enable state-of-the-art digital transformation with a secure and dependable private wireless network based on Nokia Digital Automation Cloud technology.”