Nokia, Deutsche Telekom deploy multi-vendor Open RAN network in Germany

Nokia and Deutsche Telekom announced that they have begun to deploy a multi-vendor Open RAN network with Fujitsu in Germany. The technology is fully integrated into DT’s live commercial network and the initial cluster will provide 2G, 4G, and 5G commercial services to customers in the Neubrandenburg area of Northern Germany. The deal marks a return for Nokia into DT’s commercial network and is the realization of the memorandum of understanding signed by both companies at MWC 2023. Nokia will replace the incumbent vendor in the deal. The project is already underway and will be extended from Q1 2024 onwards. Nokia will deploy its commercial Open RAN compliant, high-performance, energy efficient 5G AirScale baseband solution in DT’s commercial network including Fujitsu Radio Units. Nokia’s O-RAN solution will ensure DT has full feature, service, and performance parity with classic purpose-built RAN. Both companies have also agreed to explore O-RAN technology around Cloud RAN, 3rd party CaaS, RIC, SMO, and energy efficiency. This is another example of Nokia’s anyRAN approach, which aims to build future-ready radio access networks together with an ecosystem of industry partners to unlock collaborative advantage. Nokia anyRAN is designed to give mobile operators and enterprises more flexibility in building their networks. For Open RAN, Nokia develops the required Open Fronthaul features on top of its high-performance RAN software, ensuring co-existence and feature performance parity with purpose-built RAN. Nokia baseband solutions can be combined with both Nokia and third-party radios. For operators, this ensures a smooth evolution path towards hybrid, Cloud RAN, and O-RAN deployments.