Finnish kit vendor Nokia has taken a significant step forward with its recent summer launches, which include new baseband capacity cards Levante and Lodos, Ponente baseband control card, the network management and optimization solutions portfolio Manta Ray, the latest generation of FDD remote radio heads Pandion, and a new small cell portfolio called Shikra. These major additions to Nokia’s AirScale portfolio showcase the company’s continued technological momentum.
Nokia has developed these products using its own ReefShark chips and optimized them for 5G SA and 5G-Advanced, ensuring their relevance in the current 5G cycle. Moreover, these products are Cloud RAN compatible and ‘O-RAN compliant.’
Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, stated, “Our new baseband delivers twice the performance with just half the energy, helping our customers meet their ESG targets. Enabling ultra-high capacity, our future-ready AirScale baseband portfolio helps manage exponential increases in traffic growth.”
In addition to its enhanced portfolio of Radio Access Network solutions, Nokia is also introducing Manta Ray, a network management and optimization solutions portfolio that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to increase efficiency. According to Uitto, these AI-powered solutions are “O-RAN ready, and Cloud RAN compatible, supporting the long-term network evolution to 5G-Advanced and beyond.”
Furthermore, Nokia has unveiled its latest generation of FDD remote radio heads called Pandion and a new small cell portfolio named Shikra. Analyst Rémy Pascal of Omdia commented on these products, saying, “These new additions to Nokia’s modular AirScale baseband portfolio will help mobile operators manage traffic growth and future-proof their networks by adding capacity and performance where and when it is needed.” Pascal also emphasized the energy efficiency of these products, thanks to the new ReefShark baseband SoC and other hardware design improvements, which help mobile operators meet their sustainability commitments.
Overall, these new product launches indicate Nokia’s strong position in the industry. The company had a similar set of launches two years ago, signalling its return to the game. Today, Nokia has taken further strides in maintaining its technological momentum, undoubtedly emerging as a key player in the telecommunications space.
