Finnish vendor Nokia has been selected by Australia’s NBN Co to supply 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) mmWave customer premises equipment (CPE) for the latter’s upgraded fixed wireless offerings. According to Nokia, in what it claimed is a world-first the CPE it will provide can support high frequency mmWave bands and enable gigabit speeds for premises within a 7km radius of a radio base station. Nokia’s CPE comprises an outdoor unit installed on the roof of the premise and an indoor unit providing user interfaces for the customer, connecting to the outdoor receiver with a 2.5Gbps Power over Ethernet connection.

In a press release regarding the matter it was noted that an upgrade programme will see NBN Co’s existing fixed wireless network footprint – which currently covers almost 650,000 premises – extended ‘by up to 50%’, also bringing FWA to approximately 120,000 former satellite-only eligible premises. Meanwhile, it was noted that the 5G mmWave upgrade programme will utilise the 28GHz band, to be operated in Non-Stand Alone (NSA) mode, along with cmWave spectrum and will help enable faster speeds on the network, including the launch of two new wholesale high speed tiers – 100Mbps and 250Mbps.

Commenting, Jason Ashton, Executive General Manager, Fixed Wireless and Satellite at NBN Co, said: ‘We are facing a step-change in demand for broadband in rural and regional areas, with an estimated 300% increase in demand for data on our fixed wireless network over the next ten years. Nokia’s 5G mmWave solution allows NBN Co to better utilise both our sub-6GHz and 5G mmWave spectrum allocations to vastly extend the range, speed and capacity of our existing fixed wireless network and improve the end user’s experience.’