Nokia Networks’ CTO (Mobile) Henri Tervonen (pictured) conceded Europe may be lagging China and the US in terms of 5G development, but believes the region can swiftly bridge the gap.
Speaking during the recent Mobile World Congress, Tervonen noted Nokia is already trialling 5G with European operators. In addition to existing tests with Orange and Telefonica, Nokia revealed during Congress it had delivered equipment to Vodafone Italy as part of a 5G New Radio (NR) trial taking place in Milan.
Tervonen told Mobile World Live regulators must back European operators’ 5G efforts in terms of spectrum allocation: “There’s no kind of consolidated effort in how the spectrum and how these frequency bands will be allocated across Europe…when it gets figured out we’re sure it will accelerate fast.”
Nokia is also conducting 5G trials with KT and Intel in South Korea. Such pilots teach the vendor “how to build the network architecture” and how its Future X portfolio of 5G equipment “really applies in practice”.
However, the CTO said there is still plenty of life left in LTE. Indeed, the Future X range includes LTE technology as a baseline to enable seamless upgrades to 5G.
Tervonen commented on why unlicensed spectrum creates “opportunities for enterprises” in addition to Nokia’s existing operator customers, for example by using Licence Assisted Access.
He also noted the vendor delivered “some of the radio technology” and services enabling Google’s Project Loon to get off the ground, and explained why the search giant’s service is an opportunity rather than a threat to traditional service providers’ business.
Click here to view the full interview.
