Thailand’s dtac selects Nokia as its first 5G RAN partner in three-year deal

Nokia's AirScale Radio Access solutions will help the Thai operator improve overall network performance while delivering 5G experience with ultra-low latency and extreme capacity. dtac will also deploy Nokia Software's NetAct Cloud, a field-proven network management system that offers best-in-class applications for seamless daily network operations including configuration management, monitoring and software management.

dtac, the third-largest mobile operator in Thailand, has selected Nokia as its first 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) partner in a three-year deal covering the country's North and North Eastern regions, the latter announced on Monday.

As part of the multi-year deal that extends the duo's existing partnership, Nokia will play a key role in ensuring that dtac's network performance is fully 5G-ready and enabling a faster rollout of new 5G services to support the country's efforts to digitize as part of its 'Thailand 4.0' economic strategy. The deployment is expected to begin later this year with completion expected in 2022.

"We never stop improving our network and delivering better data experiences across a broad range of devices. Our current deployment leverages 5G-enhanced mobile broadband and 5G-ready Massive MIMO technology to bring improved coverage and higher data capacity to our customers nationwide," said Prathet Tankuranun, Chief Technology Officer at dtac.

The Nokia-dtac deal will see an accelerated large-scale deployment of 5G on low-band spectrum (700-900Mhz) and high-capacity mmWave technology (26GHz), as well as enhancements of the existing networks utilizing 2300MHz, 2100MHz and 1800MHz spectrum to provide superior coverage and faster data speeds to dtac customers.

Nokia's AirScale Radio Access solutions will help the Thai operator improve overall network performance while delivering 5G experience with ultra-low latency and extreme capacity. dtac will also deploy Nokia Software's NetAct Cloud, a field-proven network management system that offers best-in-class applications for seamless daily network operations including configuration management, monitoring and software management.

Commenting on the extended partnership, Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said, "We are delighted to extend our long-standing partnership with dtac in Thailand and be the first vendor to partner with the operator in the 5G era. Our AirScale portfolio offers a clear migration path to 5G and we look forward to supporting dtac with its efforts to deliver compelling 5G experiences to subscribers."

dtac is owned by Telenor and it is a leading mobile operator in Thailand, providing 4G, 3G, and 2G services.