Japanese telecom company KDDI announces Ericsson, Nokia as their main 5G suppliers

On October 1, according to ZDnet, Japanese telecommunications company KDDI announced on Monday that it has selected Nokia and Ericsson as the "main suppliers" of its 5G network and plans to launch 5G commercial services in March 2020.

Nokia, whose relationship with KDDI dates back 20 years, said KDDI will use its AirScale solution to modernize its 4G network to also support 5G.

“Nokia is an existing supplier to KDDI in multiple technology areas, including radio, fixed network, mobile core network and multiple software solutions,” Nokia said. “The 5G network will support KDDI cmWave and mmWave 5G bands and can be deployed in both distributed and centralized architectures.”

Ericsson has been working with KDDI since 2013 under a deal to provide radio access network equipment. KDDI and Ericsson signed a 5G research and development agreement in November 2015.

“KDDI expects the first commercial live 5G services to be launched in March 2020, and to cover more than 93% of areas designated by Japan’s telecom regulator with 5G base stations by the end of March 2025,” Ericsson said.

Ericsson also noted that it will provide radio access network (RAN) equipment to enable the operator to launch services "using sub-6 GHz and 28 GHz spectrum for 5G New Radio in parts of Japan."

Earlier this year, Japanese telecom giant SoftBank also signed 5G deployment agreements with Nokia and Ericsson.