Nokia expands Fixed Wireless Access FastMile portfolio for greater flexibility and performance in delivering ultra-broadband services

 Nokia is introducing new Fixed Wireless Access products to help operators accelerate ultra-broadband deployments and deliver more bandwidth to people sooner. The enhanced portfolio includes new FastMile high-gain outdoor receivers and indoor gateways that are easy to install and significantly enhance the ultra-broadband experience for customers. 

Mobile operators invested in 4G to bring broadband speeds to mobile networks. Now they are poised to improve performance significantly through their investment in 5G. In both cases, mobile operators have an opportunity to capture new revenue streams from the delivery of ultra-broadband services to customers using Fixed Wireless Access technologies.

With 4G networks, peak residential broadband speeds of several hundred megabits per second are possible – but not always achievable. Nokia FastMile will drive these speeds to wider areas with very-high-gain outdoor receivers that improve spectral efficiency by 4-5x versus using indoor antennas. The results are higher speeds for the user, more consistent performance at the cell edge and lower radio access network (RAN) costs for the operator. These new receivers can be equipped with Automatic Beam Alignment to help establish an optimal connection to cell sites.  Nokia’s FastMile smartphone application provides operators and customers with a guided set of instructions that help simplify installation.

Nokia is also introducing a set of powerful indoor gateways, available in the first half of 2019, that come with high-gain antennas and 4×4 multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) to deliver superior performance. These fully self-contained residential gateways will include options for plain old telephone service (POTS) and Ethernet ports. With high gain outdoor and indoor models, operators can quickly add FWA to their portfolio with minimal upfront costs.  With the evolution to 5G, operators will be able to deliver gigabit peak speeds.

Rupert Wood, research director at Analysys Mason, said:  “As 5G dawns, there has been as spike in interest in FWA both as a means for fixed broadband operators to complement fibre-based services, and as a means for more mobile-centric operators to offer their own challenger services to established broadband. The Nokia FastMile portfolio of high-gain outdoor receivers and indoor gateways addresses the critical condition for the success of either of these approaches:  the ability to deliver a reliably high-speed performance while minimising installation costs.”

Federico Guillen, president of Nokia Fixed Networks, said: “When it comes to fixed broadband access, there are two things that customers typically care about: speed and reliability of the service delivered. In the wireless world, subscribers are more apt to sacrifice speed for the flexibility to be connected anywhere. New FWA technologies like Nokia’s FastMile solution bring the best of these worlds together, giving mobile operators the flexibility to use existing wireless networks to deliver fast, reliable ultra-broadband access to homes and businesses. FWA complements more traditional fixed access solutions and is an important tool in the toolkit helping operators connect more people sooner.”