Nokia & U Mobile prepare for live 5G trial in Malaysia

Nokia and U Mobile are preparing their networks for a live 5G trial in Malaysia, scheduled for later this year.

The three-year contract will allow the two companies to collaborate on the live network trial, and to deploy a Nokia Single Radio Access Netwok (RAN) across Malaysia, as well as microwave and IP-based mobile transport technologies. The two companies hope these technologies will expand mobile data services across Malaysia.

A recent market report by GlobalData predicts that mobile data usage in Malaysia will double during 2017-2022 to 10.4 GB per user per month, primarily driven by the rising consumption of online video content on smartphones.

As a current provider of 3G and 4G mobile services via a combination of its own network and through a RAN sharing agreement, U Mobile wants to extend its network coverage and capacity to address this growing demand with a range of competitive services.

The 5G trial will demonstrate the 5G capability of enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) as well as other 5G use cases such as in the fields of virtual reality (VR) and e-sports.

"With our extensive end-to-end portfolio we are helping U Mobile to roll out a network that meets its specific needs," says Nokia's Asia Pacific and Japan head, Jae Won.

"Working together on this advanced network deployment and the upcoming 5G live trials, we can help U Mobile meet its mobile broadband demands while providing a path toward 5G - especially in high-potential areas such as virtual reality and e-sports."

The Single RAN Advanced Network, which is currently installed at U Mobile and using Nokia's AirScale base stations, is 5G-ready.

The RAN network will be deployed in greenfield locations across Malaysia, which will help U Mobile's 'aggressive' network expansion and drive to provide customers with a superior data experience.

"U Mobile has been aggressively expanding our network across Malaysia in our drive to bring our customers a superior experience," says U Mobile CTO Woon Ooi Yuen.

"We are delighted to be able to leverage on Nokia's expertise in our network expansion journey. We are of course also looking forward to working with Nokia as part of our Road To 5G Strategy. We have in our plan to conduct several 5G live trials with Nokia later this year for various use cases. Currently, we already have in place Nokia's AirScale base stations which are 5G-ready and hence, ready for trials.''

To date, Nokia has signed 37 5G commercial contracts across the world, including 20 with named customers. Nokia continues to actively work on 5G use cases with manufacturing hubs and agricultural regions.