Nokia and Claro collaborate on Colombia's largest 5G network

Nokia and Claro have successfully completed the first stage of Colombia’s largest 5G deployment, covering over 1000 sites nationwide.

The project, which was completed only four months after Colombian authorities issued 5G licences, will provide state-of-the-art radio, core and transport technologies delivering best-in-class coverage and connectivity in six of Colombia’s largest cities, with plans to further expand into 14 additional cities later this year. It will also lay the foundations for future innovation across industries such as transport, mining, energy, and oil and gas among others.

Under the contract, Nokia is supplying equipment from its comprehensive, energy-efficient AirScale portfolio for both indoor and outdoor scenarios, including base stations, high-capacity massive MIMO antennas and remote radio head (RRH) solutions. The company will also provide its MantaRay NM solution for seamless network management and MantaRay SON for automated operations, as well as network optimisation and technical support services, and has signed a further deal to deploy an additional 400 5G sites.

Nokia is providing a variety of software solutions, including its fully automated 5G Core for ultralow-latency performance that enables the delivery of advanced services and new revenue streams; Nokia Assurance Center, which facilitates automated network decision-making by leveraging diverse data sets and operational intelligence; NetGuard Cybersecurity Dome; and NetGuard Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), a threat detection and incident suite delivered in a SaaS subscription model to improve efficiency and response times to new and existing cyberthreats.

Nokia’s IP Anyhaul solution will provide scalable, seamless and low-latency mobile backhaul and fronthaul connectivity, based on FP5-based 7750 service routers and 7250 interconnect routers, with highly efficient operational automation provided by the Network Services Platform (NSP). In addition, Claro will deploy Nokia’s flagship 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) platform to provide high-speed, multiservice connectivity across its metro transport network to support traffic from aggregation to concentration layers. Claro’s optical network will be managed by the WaveSuite optical automation software applications for end-to-end network management and resource control.

Nokia has been Claro’s trusted partner for over 20 years, covering 2G, 3G, 4G and now 5G. Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said the close collaboration between the two companies was key to completing the 5G project in record time.

“Together, we have built the foundations for spearheading the digital transformation in Colombia, which will benefit the society, its citizens and its businesses,” Uitto continued. “Our industry-leading AirScale portfolio will underpin this change with premium-grade capacity, performance and coverage. I look forward to continuing this partnership in the years to come.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Frazao Studio Latino