Nokia Latvian operator LMT (Latvijas Mobilais Telefons) has chosen Nokia’s 5G standalone (SA) core to launch new 5G services, announced Monday. The LMT 5G SA will use Nokia’s 7220 interconnect router for data center fabrication as part of the deployment.
LMT is owned by Swedish multinational Telco Telia Company AB. The 5G SA effort marks another milestone in LMT’s network modernization efforts. Telia operates local telecom services in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
In April 2021, LMT flipped the switch to Voice over LTE (VoLTE) on its 4G network. The company was testing VoLTE with its 5G customers but made it available to all customers, citing its power efficiency, improved service quality and better scalability for future service. The company said at the time that this was the first carrier to support VoLTE in Latvia.
One month later, LMT announced a rollout of the 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) service in Latvia, for which it first claimed. The service uses routers manufactured by Latvian network equipment manufacturer MikroTik. MikroTik routers have 4 * 4 multiple input / multiple output (MIMO) antenna arrays. It provides users with download speeds of up to 2 Gbps per second and upload speeds of up to 200 megabits per second (Mbps), according to the company. LMT launches 5G FWA service in the Latvian city of Adaji. Telco plans to illuminate other areas with FWA as LMT develops 5G networks.
LMT is already offering other Nokia solutions, the company noted. These include Nokia Cloud Packet Core, software solutions for subscriber data management and 5G signaling and cloud management. Nokia claims that more than 60 communication service providers (CSPs) worldwide are using its 5G SA cores, including “about 30” CSPs in Europe.
LMT competitor Tele2 announced in 2021 that it has chosen Nokia as the core partner of its 5G standalone network. According to Tele2, its new core infrastructure, which went through initial deployment in 2021, supports both 4G and 5G connectivity, providing users with higher speeds and lower delays. Tele2 has offered 5G services in Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia since 2020.
Telia recently announced the sale of B2B telecom service provider Telia Latvia SIA to Tet, completing a deal it first announced in January. With the remaining 49% ownership of Tet and 60.3% ownership of LMT, Telia says it is committed to Latvian digital transformation efforts. Andreas Extrom, Telia’s chief of operations in Latvia, described the country as “an interesting ICT.” [information and communications technology] The market. “
