By Oystein Bergmann, Bureau Chief, Scandinavia

Nokia today announced a new 5G outdoor fixed wireless access receiver designed to enhance broadband coverage for urban, suburban, and rural areas. The outdoor receiver allows operators to use low-cost mmWave spectrum to provide consistent, reliable, ultra-fast wireless broadband services in areas where fiber can be challenging to deploy. 

Mounted on a balcony, wall, or pole, the outdoor receiver uses unique 360-degree field-of-view technology and Nokia Bell Labs advanced algorithms to enhance performance. With the ability to create a digital fingerprint of available radio signals, it can identify changes and rapidly switch between signal sources to ensure the best possible connection is maintained between the base station and receiver. This, along with the use of high gain antennas (up to 27 dBi) creates the industry’s first mmWave FWA solution that works in non-Line-of-Sight conditions, is easy to install by the customer and, allows operators to avoid costly track-rolls.

VP of Broadband Devices at Nokia, Dirk Verhaegen said: “We are excited to introduce the FastMile 5G mmWave Receiver, a game-changer for FWA services. Operators that have successfully deployed FWA frequently come up against capacity challenges. mmWave is ideally suited to solve this, allowing operators to add capacity where needed. Our High-Gain, 360-degree mmWave technology eliminates line-of-sight hurdles associated with mmWave, making it easier for operators to deploy and quickly add capacity to their FWA network.”

VP, Broadband Access and Home Networking at Dell’Oro Group, Jeff Heynen said: “Nokia’s new FWA 5G mmWave outdoor device can help operators expand the reach of their mmWave-based FWA services by overcoming a number of technical hurdles that have limited the technology’s adoption thus far. The device will expand the addressable market of homes and businesses for premium fixed wireless access services.”

The Nokia FastMile 5G mmWave Receiver will be available by early 2024. It joins Nokia’s comprehensive portfolio of customer premise equipment, which includes 4G and 5G gateways and receivers for outdoor and indoor use.