Although Microsoft acquired Nokia's devices and services division and as a result, thousands of jobs were cut, it seems like the company's networking unit is working soldering on, as Nokia's technical director, Juha Maatta, recently announced their commitment to test a 5G network in Oulu, Finland. Maatta believes the rollout will start by early 2015 if everything goes according to plan.
In terms of speed and coverage, 5G will offer a lot compared to current network solutions. The new standard is expected to improve wireless area capacity by 1,000 and to offer ten to 100 times the current data rate. Energy consumption also plays an important role, with a decrease of 90% in this area is one of the main goals of the 5G standard.
Nokia won't be alone on this journey, as the city of Oulu, the University of Oulu and the Finnish Technical Research Centre will also be participating in the project. The region recently lost some of its appeal as a hub for information and communications technology as Microsoft laid off many employees. In this perspective, the quartet aims to restore the charm of Oulu as an ICT hub.
Nokia also announced it will be sharing its APIs with others, including competitors. This could mean a great amount of openness and collaboration regarding new technologies in the future.
Source: YLE via FierceWireless | Image via Nokia Solutions and Networks
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