Nokia won a three-year deal to provide Virgin Media O2 with its latest RAN equipment, as the UK operator continues efforts to boost its 5G network in the country.

In a statement, Nokia explained the agreement covers deployment of equipment for network generations from 2G to 5G and will be used by the operator to up coverage in southern areas including London.

Nokia will provide radio hardware including its latest Massive MIMO technology, alongside a network management system, digital design and other technical support services.

The vendor highlighted the chipsets being used in the kit provided energy-efficiency gains and improved 5G performance.

Nokia claimed hardware supplied helped minimise the impact of “on-site infrastructure” and therefore upped the pace of deployment.

As part of the deal, VMO2 will have the option to trial Nokia’s RAN intelligent controller for 5G use cases, with the vendor citing a trial of Cloud RAN as an example.

VMO2 already uses kit from Ericsson and is also deploying open RAN network products from Mavenir.