Nokia won a new three-year deal to supply Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment to Virgin Media 02 in the U.K.
The deal will cover 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks across southern England, including London.
Specifically, Nokia will supply Virgin Media 02 with its latest generation of Habrok massive MIMO radios and AirScale Baseband and Interleaved Passive Active Antennas, both powered by Nokia’s ReefShark System-on-a-Chip (SoC) technology.
Nokia said this will bring enhanced 5G performance to O2 customers while increasing energy efficiency. The equipment uses 30% less energy and provides a 40% reduction in weight and volume.
Nokia also said it supply its Single RAN solution that enables one base station to run 5G, 4G, 3G and 2G technologies simultaneously, helping Virgin Media O2 to accelerate its 5G coverage rollout.
As part of the deal, Virgin Media O2 has the option to launch a pilot of Nokia’s commercial intelligent controller to demonstrate advanced 5G use cases. Virgin Media O2 may pilot 5G Cloud RAN in the future, enhancing the potential of existing cloud infrastructure with 5G connectivity.
“We continue to invest in our network upgrading and expanding our 4G and 5G networks to customers across the country,” said Virgin Media 02 Chief Technology Officer Jeanie York in a statement. “This is delivering superior connected experiences and supporting the UK’s digital transformation that will drive long-term growth. Continuing our partnership with Nokia will help us to deliver even better 5G with higher speeds and lower latency, as well as ensuring we are set up for future growth in line with our customers’ ever-evolving demands and needs.”
In March, Virgin Media O2 and Ericsson agreed to a new contract for Ericsson to supply radio gear in England, Scotland and northern Ireland. That also included products designed to provide a 30% reduction in energy use and a 40% reduction in weight and volume.