ANGOLA – Mobile technology company Africell has partnered with Nokia to deploy Nokia’s network technologies in Angola.
The multi-million Euro deal significantly expands the footprint of both Nokia and Africell in Africa.
Under the terms of the agreement, Africell will use the latest cloud technologies to achieve cost efficiency gains from shared infrastructure, as well as improved control and flexibility which enable highly differentiated products and services.
For the first phase of its new network in Angola, Africell will use Nokia’s AirScale Single Radio AccessNetwork (S-RAN) across up to 700 sites. The network will support 2G, 3G and 4G voice and data services and be ‘5G-ready’ through a software update.
In addition, Africell will deploy the Nokia AirFrame data center solution to run cloud-based applications, microwave transmission network Wavence to support advanced packet networking, and NetAct network management system to enable consolidated network view for improved network monitoring and management.
As part of the network rollout, Nokia will deploy cloud-native Cloud Packet Core, 3G Core, Voice Core and Registers for the voice and data core network software, enabling Africell to achieve a high degree of flexibility for responding to changing customer demands by scaling the various network functions according to the traffic experienced.
Younes Chaaban, Chief Technical Officer at Africell said: “Africell is a competitive and highly differentiated player in the African telecoms market. Our vision is to offer superior voice and data services in an expanding footprint across the continent. To achieve this, we need reliable technology partners whose network technologies and support services give us the best platform from which to serve our own customers. Nokia is the right partner for us in Angola and we are excited to work with them to build world-class mobile networks.”
“Our vision is to offer superior voice and data services in an expanding footprint across the continent. To achieve this, we need reliable technology partners whose network technologies and support services give us the best platform from which to serve our own customers”
Younes Chaaban – Chief Technical Officer, Africell
As part of the core network solution, Nokia PolicyController provides scalability and flexibility and performance for Africell’s diverse range of services.
Additionally, Africell is set to benefit from Nokia’s services expertise for network planning, optimization, installation, and care, to help launch the services faster and ensure the highest quality of service for Africell’s customers in Angola.
On the other hand, Rajiv Aggarwal, Head of CEWA Market Unit at Nokia said: “Africell wants to ensure the best quality of services with high-performance network from day one. And it wants to launch services for both individual subscribers and enterprise customers with an option to deploy 5G services in the future. We are excited to provide our multi-standard Single RAN radio technology, along with cloud-native core and IP technologies to achieve Africell’s goals.”
Following its entry, Africell will become the third major mobile operator in Angola, joining Unitel and Movicel.
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