By Juan Pedro Tomás
Nokia and AT&T Mexico announced that they are collaborating to bring the benefits of 5G technology to the country. The Finnish vendor said that it was also selected as a strategic partner for AT&T Mexico’s 5G Innovation Lab with the aim of exploring the development of 5G use cases suited for Mexico. The project is underway and expected to conclude later this year.
The 5G Innovation Lab enables entrepreneurs, developers and users to trial solutions to grow a local 5G ecosystem.
Under the deal, Nokia will provide equipment from its energy-efficient 5G AirScale RAN portfolio, powered by its latest ReefShark System-on-Chip chipset. Nokia will also provide connectivity for 3G and 4G LTE services using the same hardware while offering an upgrade path to 5G.
CTO at AT&T Mexico, Nicole Rodriguez said: “We are committed to providing our customers with the best experience possible. As we move forward with the deployment of our 5G network, we need the latest technology and the most reliable support services.”
“We are excited to be part of this important milestone as a strategic partner for AT&T Mexico. Our latest AirScale portfolio creates a strong foundation for the operator’s 5G evolution, enabling super-fast mobile connectivity and innovative use cases for its customers,”president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, Tommi Uitto said.
According to research by Nokia and analysis firm Omdia, 5G technology will enable $730 billion of social and economic output in Mexico by 2035, and ICT, manufacturing, services, retail, real estate and construction will be the industries most impacted by 5G.
The carrier had initially launched 5G services in Mexico in December last year using spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, with initial coverage limited to the Cuauhtémoc and the Napoles districts in Mexico City. In May, AT&T Mexico announced its 5G network has been launched in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. The telco said it expects its 5G network infrastructure to reach 25 new cities across Mexico before the end of 2022.
Earlier this year, Mexican operator Movistar, owned by Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica, said it was considering a launch of 5G in Mexico via a network sharing agreement with AT&T.
Meanwhile, Mexican telecom group America Movil expects to double the number of 5G sites in Mexico by the end of the year, America Movil’s CEO Daniel Hajj previously said during a conference call with investors.
Hajj also said that the telco will gradually increase its 5G capex once users migrate from 3G and 4G networks to 5G. “As we can move more customers from 4G to 5G or 3G to 5G then the capex should be more in 5G because we have more customers there and take out some capex on 4G to put it in 5G (…) If we grow faster, than we put more on 5G, if we grow at slower pace we are going to put more on 4G,” he added.
In February, America Movil launched 5G services in 18 of Mexico’s largest cities, reaching more than 48 million people.
The company, which operates in the mobile telephony segment through the Telcel brand, initially launched 5G in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Tijuana and Puebla, among other cities.
Earlier this year, Mexican telecommunications regulator IFT had confirmed that the 5G spectrum auction for mobile services will take place during 2022.
