Nokia and Claro have successfully completed the first stage of Colombia’s largest 5G deployment.
The project, covering over 1,000 sites nationwide, was accomplished just four months after Colombian authorities issued 5G licenses, informed the companies.
This milestone will pave the way for cutting-edge connectivity and innovation across various industries, including transport, mining, energy, and oil and gas.
Under the contract, Nokia is supplying equipment from its energy-efficient AirScale portfolio for both indoor and outdoor scenarios.
This includes base stations, high-capacity Massive MIMO antennas, and remote radio head (RRH) solutions. Additionally, Nokia has signed an agreement to deploy an additional 400 5G sites. The comprehensive solution also features Nokia's MantaRay NM for seamless network management and MantaRay SON for automated operations, network optimization, and technical support services.
The deployment provides 5G coverage in six of Colombia's largest cities, with plans to expand into 14 additional cities by 2024.
Nokia is providing a variety of software solutions, including its fully automated 5G Core for ultra-low latency performance that enables the delivery of advanced services and new revenue streams such as FWA, 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 cyber threats.
Nokia’s IP Anyhaul solution will also 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 two decades, covering 2G, 3G, 4G, and now 5G.
Recently, the companies deployed a private industrial-grade 4.9G wireless network and edge computing solution at the port terminal of Sociedad Portuaria Puerto Bahía in Cartagena, Colombia.
Rodrigo de Gusmao, CEO at Claro Colombia, expressed excitement about the 5G network: "Its incredible speeds, security, and capacity provide the platform to deliver next-level services to our customers and various industries."
"Together, we have built the foundations for spearheading the digital transformation in Colombia, benefiting society, citizens, and businesses,” commented Tommi Uitto, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, emphasizing the importance of the long-standing partnership with Nokia.