Finnish vendor Nokia has announced that it is to completely modernise the nationwide LTE network belonging to local company Ukkoverkot, which provides mobile data-only services to infrastructure operators, the industrial IoT market, public safety authorities and the maritime industry, as well as both residents and enterprises in remote areas.
In a press release outlining the development, Nokia noted that starting in Q4 2017 it will begin upgrading Ukkoverkot’s older-generation network technology to its state-of-the-art LTE-based solution, claiming this will ‘significantly improve network performance’. The vendor meanwhile confirmed it will be deploying its LTE-450 solution – the first time it has rolled this out in Finland – alongside its ‘FastMile’ solution, the latter of which can reportedly provide up to twelve times the typical coverage area and three times that of ‘a standard mobile broadband network’. In addition, Nokia will also provide Ukkoverkot with its NetAct Compact virtualised mobile network management system.
Ukkoverkot operates its own LTE-based mobile data network and a number of local private LTE networks, using spectrum in the 450MHz and 2.6GHz bands; the company’s low frequency nationwide network is largely reserved for the use of its industrial and public safety customers, while its high frequency network is reserved for private micro-operator networks.
Commenting on the network modernisation plans, Thorsten Robrecht, head of Advanced Mobile Network Solutions at Nokia, said: ‘We are proud to team up with Ukkoverkot in its network modernisation to ensure these customers can benefit from first-class network quality, and to prepare them for the services enabled by future 5G networks.’ The firm’s CEO Mikko Uusitalo added: ‘Ukkoverkot is totally focused on serving our customers, for whom connectivity means the world. The agreement with Nokia enables us to roll out the most advanced public protection, IoT and campus network functions as they are available.’