KDDI, the second largest mobile operator in Japan, selected Nokia as its main supplier to upgrade its 4G network to 5G with the vendor’s AirScale radio access equipment.
In a statement, Nokia, an existing supplier to KDDI across multiple technologies, said the 5G network will support both cmWave and mmWave frequency bands and can be deployed in both distributed and centralised architectures.
KDDI aims to launch commercial 5G service next year, in time to have its networks up and running for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
In December 2018 KDDI, along with rivals NTT Docomo and SoftBank, announced it doesn’t plan to deploy [1] gear from Huawei and ZTE in the new network, following a ban on the use of Chinese telecoms equipment by government agencies in the country.
In May 2018, the country’s third largest mobile operator SoftBank selected Ericsson and Nokia [2] as its 5G radio equipment suppliers, delivering another heavy (but expected) blow to embattled Huawei, which had conducted trials of the next-generation mobile technology with the operator.
Nokia said it has 48 global 5G commercial contracts, including live networks in the US, Latin America, Europe, Korea and Australia.
[1] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/asia/asia-news/chinese-vendors-shut-out-of-japan-5g-market/[2] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/top-three/softbank-names-ericsson-nokia-as-5g-suppliers/
