Information and communication technology group Nokia and Angola’s new mobile telecommunications operator Africell have signed a deal that will result in the deployment of a new network in Luanda.

Nokia will deploy its comprehensive network technologies to Africell to provide second-generation (2G), third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation (4G) services in the capital city of Luanda.

Nokia’s AirScale Single Radio Access Network will be rolled out across up to 700 sites to support, concurrently, 2G, 3G and 4G services, and be 5G-ready, with the AirScale platform enabled to seamlessly be upgraded to support 5G networks through a software update.

This deal significantly expands the footprint of both Nokia and Africell in Africa and enables the mobile operator to leverage the latest cloud technologies to achieve cost efficiency gains from shared infrastructure, as well as improved control and flexibility which enable differentiated services to both people and businesses, the duo said in a statement.

“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,” said Africell chief technical officer Younes Chaaban.

“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.”

“Africell wants to ensure the best quality of services with high-performance network from the 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 Internet Protocol (IP) technologies to achieve Africell’s goals,” added Nokia Central, East and West Africa market unit head Rajiv Aggarwal.

Nokia’s AirFrame data centre solution will be rolled out to run any cloud-based application with ease, along with 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.

Further, Nokia’s IP routers for access, aggregation, backhaul and core completes the solution, providing scalable backhaul and fast, reliable service deployment.

As part of the network roll-out, Nokia will also 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.

As part of the core network solution, Nokia Policy Controller provides scalability and flexibility, and performance for Africell’s diverse range of services. Nokia also will leverage its services expertise for the network planning, optimisation, installation and care to launch the services faster and ensure the quality of services.