Nokia, Telia Finland claim world-first commercial 5G SA FWA network with network slicing

Telia Finland is introducing 5G standalone (SA) to commercial fixed wireless access (FWA) home broadband services, offering customers in its domestic territory a range of broadband deals with guaranteed service levels.

To make this possible, Telia is working with Finnish telecommunications technology leader Nokia, the company’s sole 5G supplier in the country.

The offerings are designed to enable Telia to build on its existing leadership position, and deliver enhanced connectivity and capacity benefits to its customers.

The deployment is underway, and will see Nokia upgrade Telia’s entire 5G radio access network infrastructure to enable 5G slicing, utilising equipment from its AirScale portfolio, including 5G radio and baseband products. Nokia’s industry-leading, energy-efficient 5G AirScale network portfolio delivers best-in-class connectivity and supports mobile operators rapidly transitioning to 5G standalone networks.

Nokia said 5G SA is the foundation for some of the most transformative 5G use cases, such as cloud gaming and extended reality, and that its 5G SA core will give Telia the speed, intelligence, scale and security to deliver 5G services, while cost-effectively managing its network with near zero-touch automation and adherence to service level agreements.

It added that the introduction of network slicing will mean Telia can dynamically allocate a portion of the network for 5G FWA, flexibly balance traffic between FWA and mobile users, and provide new services such as application category-based slicing.

Being able to specify slices with differentiated levels of speed, latency and data quality will mean Telia is able to offer its customers a selection of broadband deals with guaranteed service levels based on customer requirements.

Nokia 5G FWA gateways are included in the deal, and Telia is also using Nokia’s carrier aggregation technology for making the best use of its 5G spectrum assets to improve coverage in key regions.

“We were one of the first operators in Europe to introduce a 5G standalone and core network, and with the encouraging feedback of our customers, we are now deploying this new technology commercially,” said Jari Collin, chief technology officer at Telia. “5G’s most innovative applications will be built on our 5G network, and we want to keep Finland at the forefront of its development as this technology matures.”

“Together with Telia, we have been at the forefront of innovation by delivering the world’s first 4G/5G network slicing and edge slicing solutions,” added Ari Kynäslahti, head of strategy and technology at Nokia Mobile Networks.

“Today, we take another significant step forward in our pioneering network slicing story, with the introduction of 5G Fixed Wireless Access services that will deliver super-fast home broadband services to Telia’s customers in Finland. We are proud to continue our successful, long-standing partnership with Telia and support its goal of delivering world-class 5G services.”