Nokia and Du Launch Region's First 5G Cloud RAN in UAE

On Friday, Nokia Corporation NOK and Du announced the launch of the first commercial 5G Cloud RAN solution in the Middle East and Africa.

This partnership underscores du's hybrid RAN strategy, combining purpose-built and cloud-native infrastructures for enhanced flexibility and scalability.

The deployment supports the UAE's digital growth and enables advanced use cases, including AI, machine learning, and industry-specific applications in manufacturing, energy, and logistics.

The commercial 5G Cloud RAN site deployed in Abu Dhabi, based on Nokia's anyRAN approach, features Nokia's virtualized Distributed Units (vDU) and Centralized Units (vCU) running on Dell PowerEdge XR8620 servers, integrated with Red Hat OpenShift, a leading hybrid cloud platform powered by Kubernetes.

This setup supports cloud-native RAN functions and allows service providers like du to scale their 5G networks and quickly roll out new services.

Saleem Alblooshi, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of du, said, "Leveraging 5G Cloud RAN will not only enhance our network's efficiency and flexibility but also enable us to explore new opportunities and services that can deliver genuine value to our customers and society at large."

Mark Atkinson, Head of RAN at Nokia, stated, "Under our anyRAN approach, we bring together Nokia's expertise, trusted performance, and innovation in radio networks with best-in-class partner solutions to offer true flexibility and scalability to operators and enterprises."

Last month, the company completed the UAE's first live transport slicing trial with du, enabling the telecom provider to offer diverse network services on existing infrastructure.

Investors can gain exposure to NOK stock via iShares U.S. Digital Infrastructure and Real Estate ETF IDGT and Hartford Multifactor Developed Markets (ex-US) ETF RODM.

Price Action: NOK shares are down 1.04% at $4.27 at the last check on Friday.

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Image via Nokia