Nokia 5G Roll-out Sooner than Expected

Nokia said that 5G could roll out a year earlier than expected.

18:34 26 February 2018

Major telecoms are accelerating their timeline to make sure that 5G is rolled out sooner than expected. Nokia Chief Executive Rajeev Suri said that because the demand for current fourth generation gear has slowed down immensely, the news uplifts the firm’s confidence for its own business later in 2018.

 

Suri predicts 5G deployments to be huge in China, Japan, South Korea and the United States. He then confirmed that they struck a deal with China Mobile to develop new 5G networks for industrial uses across the world’s most populous country.

 

“The confidence about where that 5G uplift comes from is understanding the accelerated timelines operators now have,” Suri said.

 

He added that many operators doubted the benefits of upgrading to 5G a year ago.

 

“Now, it has accelerated by almost a year, which is good news for the sector, because then they’ll be the next wave of investment coming.” Europe, however, so far lacks the catalysts for rapid, large-scale 5G rollouts, he added.

 

 “Far and away, the U.S. and China activity will dwarf Europe ... (but) I think some 5G will be launched (in Europe) at some point in 2019,” he said.