Nokia will deploy its fully O-RAN-compliant 5G AirScale baseband solution in Docomo’s commercial network in Japan

Finnish vendor Nokia announced that Japanese mobile operator NTT Docomo is deploying the former’s Open RAN (O-RAN) compliant 5G AirScale baseband solution, including centralized unit (CU) and distributed unit (DU) software, in its commercial network nationwide.

Nokia said that this solution will enable NTT Docomo to pursue a multi-supplier strategy, giving the Japanese telco the option to connect with Open Radio Units (RU) delivered by other suppliers.

Nokia will deploy its fully O-RAN-compliant 5G AirScale baseband solution in Docomo’s commercial network. Nokia’s solution is enabled by the latest ReefShark System-on-Chip (SoC) technology, which the vendor said will also deliver sustainability benefits as well as operational cost savings to Docomo due to its small footprint and low power consumption.

Nokia highlighted that its “anyRAN” approach is designed to give mobile operators and enterprises more flexibility in building networks that combine purpose-built, hybrid and cloud RAN environments with common software.

Masafumi Masuda, general manager of radio access network technology promotion office at NTT Docomo, said: “Nokia’s O-RAN compatible AirScale 5G Baseband solution is capable of being connected to any O-RUs on NTT Docomo’s 5G commercial network. Its high performance and low power consumption will also reduce our operational costs and support our sustainability goals.”

“Nokia is fully committed to Open RAN and is helping its customers fulfill their Open RAN objectives. We have taken steps to ensure that our radio access portfolio can seamlessly integrate and interoperate with products from other suppliers. Together with our ecosystem of partners, we are providing more choice and higher performance in Open RAN solutions to our customers,” Mark Atkinson, Head of RAN at Nokia, said.

Last week, Nokia announced that it has successfully completed interoperability testing with a Mavenir radio using the O-RAN Alliance 7-2x interface at Nokia’s Open RAN Innovation Center in Dallas, Texas.

During the trial, Nokia and Mavenir validated the interoperability of Mavenir’s CBRS radio unit and Nokia AirScale Baseband supporting the O-RAN compliant 7.2x interface. The testing was performed according to O-RAN Alliance specifications, demonstrating end-to-end configurations with 5G user devices.

In February, Nokia had announced the launch of its anyRAN approach to help mobile operators and enterprises choose purpose-built, hybrid or Cloud RAN solutions regardless of business model.

With the Nokia anyRAN approach, the software can run on any partner’s cloud and server infrastructure in addition to Nokia AirScale base stations and Nokia AirFrame servers, the vendor said.