Nokia has signed a deal to become the largest infrastructure partner for British telecoms company BT.
As part of the deal Nokia will provide equipment and services at BT radio sites across the UK as the company expands its domestic 5G network.
The current network, which already uses Nokia equipment, includes London, the Midlands and some rural locations but will grow to cover two dozen other towns and cities including Brighton, Cambridge, Aberdeen, York, Southampton and the Scottish capital Edinburgh.
The BBC reports the new deal means that BT can phase out its Chinese-made 5G Huawei kit, and replace it with Nokia equipment instead. The deal also sees Nokia replace Huawei in BT’s 2G and 4G networks, according to the BBC.
“I am delighted that BT has extended its partnership with Nokia on 5G RAN, making Nokia BT’s largest infrastructure partner. Our two companies have collaborated for over a quarter of a century in order to deliver best-in-class connectivity to people across the United Kingdom” says Pekka Lundmark, Nokia’s President and CEO.
“We are proud to support BT’s 5G network evolution and look forward to working even more closely together in the years to come” he adds.
There have been ongoing concerns about the national security implications of having Chinese technology at the heart of Britain’s communications systems, and in July the government banned all UK mobile providers from buying new Huawei 5G equipment from the end of the year.
There’s also a deadline to remove all existing Huawei 5G components from networks by 2027.
