Japanese operator group Softbank has picked Nokia to provide the core software for its standalone 5G services.

It looks like Nokia will be providing much of what SoftBank needs to live the 5G dream, including Cloud Packet Core, Cloud Mobility Manager and Cloud Mobile Gateway. It will also be throwing some cloud-native BSS/OSS-looking stuff into the mix. Can you see a theme emerging? The point of all this cloudy goodness, of course, is to help with buzzwords like agility, scalability and automation.

“Nokia 5G Core’s near-zero-touch automation capabilities, high-level operational efficiencies, scale and performance will help SoftBank deliver advanced services and experience, and boost network reliability,” said John Lancaster-Lennox, Head of Market Unit Japan at Nokia. “This is a tremendous way to be expanding Nokia’s longstanding relationship with SoftBank.”

“We are pleased to be expanding our relationship with Nokia as we enable fast and reliable 5G service for our subscribers,” said Keiichi Makizono, CIO of SoftBank. “This 5G core solution will catapult us into the next phase of our 5G transition.”

While Nokia’s numbers continue to struggle, it does seem to be seeing a steady stream of deal wins and has even been picked to spearhead the European Union’s 6G research. With a new CEO the company is in a similar position to Ericsson a few years ago and there’s no reason not to believe it can make a similar recovery if it also consolidates around what it’s best at.