Nokia announces 5G portfolio expansion ahead of Mobile World Congress

Nokia has revealed two new additions to its AirScale small cells portfolio, ahead of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

These include a millimeter wave (mmWave) radio for “cost-effective 5G outdoor coverage of extremely high traffic areas such as airports,” and a new 5G pico remote radio head for the company’s indoor radio system. According to the company, the latter is designed to provide an upgrade to 5G, without replacing already-installed hardware.

Speaking of the products, Mark Atkinson, head of 5G and small cells at Nokia said: "Small cells are perfectly suited for using 5G mmWave and mid-bands to deliver very high capacity to support the busiest traffic areas, and ensure subscribers always enjoy the highest quality services. We are building on our small cells leadership to enable operators to deploy almost any scenario of 4G indoor and outdoor capacity and coverage that can be upgraded to 5G new radio using a choice of spectrum bands."

The new 5G AirScale mmWave radio supports 28 GHz and 39 GHz bands, while the pico remote radio head supports sub-6 GHz.