Ice Norway taps Nokia for 5G network expansion

Nokia has forged a strategic, multi-year alliance with Ice to facilitate the latter company's 5G network expansion in Norway.

The Lyse-owned Norwegian mobile operator caters to over 700,000 customers, representing 95% of the country’s population. Fibre broadband provider Altibox, also owned by Lyse, also adds to the nations digital infrastructure.

Besides 5G network expansion, Ice’s new deal with Nokia is aimed at enabling new fixed and mobile services by Lyse Group in previously untapped regions.

Per the accord, Nokia will offer solutions from its energy-efficient AirScale portfolio to support varied spectrum bands. Single RAN, AirScale base stations, and 5G Massive MIMO antennas are among the Finnish phone maker’s offerings.

In addition to enhancing Ice's 5G coverage and performance, the aforementioned solutions permit a wide range of deployment scenarios, from dense urban to wide-area connectivity.

NetAct, Nokia’s field-proven network management system, ‌will‌ ‌further‌ ‌streamline‌ ‌operations. The firm is also offering optimisation and technical assistance. Up to 3,200 base stations will be upgraded and an additional 3900 will be deployed.

“This is a particularly exciting phase for Ice as 5G is picking up pace in Norway and is establishing a competitive position in the market,” said Tommi Uitto, president of mobile networks at Nokia.

“We are proud to continue our journey as its long-term partner. We have already made great progress with the deployment of 5G services across the country and this new deal will extend coverage to new areas while improving the coverage and performance of the existing footprint. Our industry has a big role to play in the green transition of societies, and our energy-efficient AirScale portfolio supports Ice’s commitments to sustainability,” added Uitto.