T-Mobile and Nokia Signs Multi-year Deal for Nationwide 5G Rollout

By Kevin B. Simon

Image Attribute: A Screenshot from T-Mobile's Un-Carrier Marketing Campaign

On July 30, 2018, T-Mobile United States (No.3 U.S. mobile carrier) and Finland's Nokia have announced a historic US$ 3.5 billion agreement to focus on accelerating the deployment of a nationwide next-generation mobile communication grid of 5G network. Nokia will equip T-Mobile with its end-to-end 5G technology, related software and extensive services portfolio, assisting T-Mobile in its efforts to bring 5G network to the market for customers within first critical years of the 5G cycle.

"We are all in on 5G," said Neville Ray, Chief Technology Officer at T-Mobile. "Every dollar we spend is a 5G dollar, and our agreement with Nokia underscores the kind of investment we’re making to bring customers a mobile, nationwide 5G network. And together with Sprint, we’ll be able to do So. Much. More."

As per the agreement, Nokia will assist to build T-Mobile’s nationwide 5G network over a broad coverage of  600 MHz licensed spectrum and deliver ultra high-speed capacity on 28 GHz millimeter airwave which is 5G capabilities compliant with — 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) standards — much-needed solution for urban areas with dense traffic.

"Nokia and T-Mobile will advance the large-scale deployment of 5G services throughout the United States," said Ashish Chowdhary, Chief Customer Operations Officer, Nokia. "This is a testament to our companies’ strong and productive working relationship, one which has produced several important technological milestones in recent months, and which now allows us to make 5G a commercial reality."

5G promises to deliver faster speeds, stability in connectivity and extended decade-long battery life for the sensors which give ultra-responsive and yet reliable networks for customers. 5G will also easily support on-demand augmented reality (AR) experiences, virtual reality (VR), medical monitoring, driverless vehicles and advanced industrial automation services with much more– all requiring omnipresent low latency connectivity.

T-Mobile will utilize multiple products like commercial AirScale radio platforms and cloud-native core, AirFrame hardware, CloudBand software, SON and 5G Acceleration Services across Nokia’s end-to-end 5G technology, software, and services portfolio.

With 5G technology, Nokia and T-Mobile will be able to develop, test and launch the next generation of connectivity services which covers a wide range of industries with Health, Transportation, Smart Cities, Real Estate, Enterprise, Retail, Agriculture, Manufacturing, government agencies.

On the very same day (July 30), Nokia reiterated its outlook after announcing its network agreement with T-Mobile. Nokia comments that the outlook provided in the Nokia Financial Report for Q2 and Half Year 2018 issued on July 26, 2018, fully included the expected impact of the agreement with T-Mobile, and thus is not affected by the announcement of this deal. It expects an operating margin of 9-11% for the full year with earnings per share of €0.23-0.27.

In February 2018, T-Mobile said it was working both with Nokia and rival network vendor Ericsson of Sweden to build out 5G networks in 30 U.S. cities during 2018. Ericsson was not immediately available to comment on where it stood on finalizing its own previously announced plans to deliver 5G networks in New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

In April 2018, T-Mobile agreed to a merger with Sprint to create a more formidable rival to U.S. telecom giants Verizon and AT&T. Under the merger deal, Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank, the current owner of Sprint will end up with a minority stake of about 27% in the combined company. T-Mobile's owner, Deutsche Telekom, will hold around 42% and also have control of the board and voting rights.

About the Author:

Kevin Simon (ORCID: 0000-0002-2962-8008)  is a Technology Editor at IndraStra Global with a keen interest in technology-driven businesses. He is a graduate in management studies (MBA) from the Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad.

With reporting by MarketWatch, T-Mobile Newsroom, and Reuters