Nokia accelerates 5G roll out with Optus, TPG Telecom, One NZ

Nokia has rolled out its modular Interleaved Passive Active Antenna (IPAA) products to accelerate 5G deployment across Oceania.

The products will be deployed by multiple telcos, including Optus and TPG Telecom in Australia and One NZ in New Zealand. 

Optus has already begun the roll out of an 8T8R variant of Nokia's IPAA, while TPG Telecom and One NZ plan to commence deployments later this year. 

Developed in collaboration with network infrastructure provider CommScope, Nokia claims the IPAA solutions accelerate the deployment of 5G by supporting a wide range of frequencies, from 700 MHz to 2.6 GHz and the 3.5 GHz 5G band, with a compact antenna. 

This addresses the challenge of finding additional space on towers and rooftops to add 5G antennas that Nokia says service providers are facing. 

Other challenges are addressed by Nokia’s Optus-specific variant, as the 2.3 GHz 8T8R array is used to ease the deployment of both 2300 and 3500 TDD bands within the same antenna footprint. 

"Our latest solutions are designed in accordance with feedback from our customers," said Rob Joyce, chief technology officer at Nokia Oceania. 

"These products address a major pain point of our customers by allowing a single integrated 5G antenna to cover all sub-6GHz 5G frequency bands." 

In September, Nokia inked a memorandum of understanding with One NZ (formerly Vodafone NZ), focused on accelerating the opportunities of Vodafone's 4G/5G network as the two organisations celebrated 30 years of partnership in New Zealand.