Spain’s incumbent intends to deliver 5G coverage to 75% of the population by the end of this year.
The Finnish company has been involved with Telefónica’s 5G development strategy since 2018 as part of the Technological Cities project in the ancient city of Segovia (pictured) in central Spain.
The project trialed 5G for different use cases for citizens and companies so explain the benefits of 5G-based services. In particular, the project looked at the advantages of better data speeds with higher capacity and lower latency.
Optical too
Nokia supplies its AirScale Radio Access portfolio and is supporting Telefónica on the development of 5G in different areas, including IP network, optical transport and fibre.
Mata, CTIO, Telefónica Spain, said, “We are delighted to work with Nokia on our nationwide 5G deployment across both urban and rural regions of Spain.
“We anticipate that 5G will have a game-changing impact on both consumer and business segments and Nokia’s state-of-the-art 5G equipment will help us to deliver best-in-class experiences to our customers.”
Dynamic spectrum sharing
Meanwhile, arch rival Ericsson is in on the action too.
Ericsson said in a statement that it expected to have “thousands” of sites active by the end of 2020, and that its spectrum sharing tech will allow 4G and 5G to share the same airwaves and speed deployment.
Ericsson is providing new 3.5Ghz radio equipment and software upgrades to “5G-ready” Ericsson radios in Telefónica’s network.
Joaquín Mata, CTO, Telefónica Spain, says, “We are very pleased with the collaboration with Ericsson to build one of the best 5G networks in Europe.”