Nokia drafted to upgrade Taiwan Mobile’s network

The deal will see Nokia supply equipment from its 5G AirScale portfolio, including the modular, high-capacity AirScale baseband solutions, Habrok 32 and Osprey 32 Massive MIMO radios and Remote Radio Head products. These are all powered by the ReefShark System-on-Chip technology and ‘combine to provide superior coverage and capacity.’

The project will see thousands of existing LTE sites modernized for better energy efficiency, we’re told, and Taiwan Mobile will also install Nokia’s IPAA+ solution enabling them to add additional antennas in urban environments.

Taiwan Mobile will also implement Nokia’s Carrier Aggregation technology to its network, which combines radio spectrum and is supposed to result in better throughput, capacity, and performance.

“This expanded partnership with Nokia marks a significant step forward in our commitment to providing our 10 million customers with the best possible 5G experience, while also supporting the growing needs of over 1 million IoT devices across our network,” said Jamie Lin, President at Taiwan Mobile. “By leveraging Nokia's cutting-edge AirScale portfolio, we are not only enhancing network performance and capacity but also reinforcing our dedication to sustainability and advancing our Telco+Tech strategies. This collaboration will enable us to deliver superior connectivity to both urban and rural areas, ensuring that all our customers can enjoy the full benefits of the 5G era.”

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “Nokia is partnering with Taiwan Mobile to modernize their 5G and 4G networks to deliver enhanced performance and coverage and better customer experience. We are deploying the latest equipment from our energy-efficient AirScale portfolio, which will enable a greener network with reduced environmental impact, contributing to the operator’s sustainability goals.”

The intention of all this is to add capacity and coverage for Taiwan Mobile’s customer base of around 10 million, including in rural areas. Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star merged last year, and this upgrade is also pitched as preparing the network for the 5G-Advanced era.

Last month, Nokia got the contract to upgrade fellow Taiwanese operator Chunghwa Telecom’s network in preparation for 5G-Advanced. Similarly, the deal involved the kit vendor supplying baseband, massive MIMO radios, and remote radio head (RRH) products from its AirScale portfolio.