Bell and Nokia announced last week an expansion of their 5G network infrastructure partnership that will modernize Bell’s network with Cloud and Open RAN capabilities, thereby improving agility, scalability and efficiency, according to a joint press release.
“Bell’s deployment of Cloud RAN infrastructure is a strategic stepping stone toward Bell’s broader Open RAN vision,” the release said. “Nokia’s anyRAN approach offers Bell flexible RAN evolution options — purpose-built, hybrid, or Cloud RAN solutions — enabling network monetization, interoperability, vendor diversity, and reduced vendor lock-in.”
This multi-year contract extension will see Bell leverage Nokia’s energy-efficient 5G AirScale portfolio, powered by Red Hat OpenShift and supported by Dell PowerEdge servers, to build an open, intelligent and autonomous network, the release said. Nokia’s contribution includes its Cloud RAN software and Open Fronthaul hardware-capable radios, as well as its AI-powered radio network management solution, MantaRay NM, which supports all radio and mobile core technologies, according to the release.
“Our expanded partnership with Nokia represents a pivotal moment in Bell’s 5G journey,” said Mark McDonald, senior vice president of networks at Bell, in the release. “By leveraging Nokia’s cutting-edge Cloud RAN technology, we’re not only significantly enhancing our network capabilities today, but also building a robust foundation for the future adoption of Open RAN. This approach ensures network agility, scalability, and vendor diversity, ultimately delivering an exceptional experience for our customers and positioning Bell as a leader in 5G innovation.”
“This important contract extension with our partner, Bell, highlights the strength of our industry-leading RAN technology portfolio and our anyRAN approach that enables gradual RAN evolution with feature and performance consistency,” Tommi Uitto, president of mobile networks at Nokia, said in a statement. “We are proud to support Bell on their cloud journey, which will bring the readiness and scalability to enable new use cases and drive new revenue models for 5G monetization.”
