Nokia Networks to be 5G ready by 2017

NEW DELHI: Finnish telecom equipment maker company Nokia Networks has said that it will start trialing 5G networks in 2016, with the target of commercial availability by 2017.

With this, the company's 5G-ready 10 Gbps cell sites will provide 1 Gbps connection to the home. Millions of homes are not currently taking full advantage of nearby fiber.

"We have all the building blocks in place to make the first concrete 5G use case a reality as early as in 2017. This marks an important foundation for shaping the future of mobile broadband and enabling a personalized gigabit experience for the broadband subscribers in the comfort of their home." said Marc Rouanne, Executive Vice President, Mobile Broadband at Nokia Networks.

Today, operators are facing a true challenge in finding cost-effective, future-ready alternatives to connect the millions of people who currently do not take advantage of ultra-high-speed broadband connectivity.

Nokia Networks' massive broadband solution addresses this challenge with 5G-ready network elements that respond to today's requirements with software that will be easy to upgrade to full 5G once standards are fully defined and established. Operators will be able to offer high-speed broadband without the need to connect all these homes individually.

Connecting homes near fiber, Nokia Networks' 5G-ready solution is the first concrete step towards realizing the benefits inherent with full 5G.

Nokia Networks' holistic programmable 5G multi-service architecture was revealed on September 2, 2015, that provides a clear view on what type of network architecture is needed related to future use cases, including not only people but mission-critical machine communications, and machine-to-machine connections for enhanced Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

Learnings from early 5G use cases will benefit the industry and help define a robust set of specifications in the standardization bodies.