Earlier this month, Nokia announced that the company has been selected by Orange France and Orange Slovensko to evolve the operator's Radio Access Network for 5G.

Nokia will provide Orange, for a broad part of France, with a range of products and services from its end-to-end 5G portfolio, including Single Radio Access Network (RAN) technology, advanced automation tools, a state-of-the-art network management solution and associated professional services.

The infrastructure investment will allow Orange France to significantly improve customer experience, boost network capacity, enable further automation and create new innovative services that require ultra-high bandwidth and low latency. The new network will provide improved mobile broadband services as well as allow Orange to provide ultra-low latency applications in areas such as industrial IoT, health, public safety among others.

Nokia will initially support Orange France’s 5G commercial launch by enabling the rollout of its state-of-the-art SRAN network to 5G through software upgrades, streamlining the initial steps to build 5G. It will also introduce 5G New Radio (5G NR)-based AirScale hardware, and software for the new 5G frequency bands.

Orange’s network in Slovakia will utilize Nokia’s 5G New Radio (5G NR)-based AirScale hardware and software for the new 5G frequency bands. Nokia will also provide its state-of-the-art NetAct Management System together with advanced automation and efficiency tools. The deal will support Orange Slovensko in the evolution of its recently-modernized AirScale-based 4G network, by activating 5G in existing bands through pure software upgrades.