- Verizon teamed with Nokia on another private 5G rollout
- This marks Verizon's latest port deal in the U.K.
- Analysts said the deal shows there's momentum growing behind Verizon's efforts
Nokia and Verizon Business have unveiled plans to deploy a private 5G network in the Thames Freeport, in what SNS Telecom & IT describes as “one of the U.K.'s major private 5G projects.”
The industrial cluster includes the Port of Tilbury – the largest port on the River Thames – which handles 16 million tonnes of cargo per year. Also in the mix are Ford Dagenham, the biggest manufacturing site in London, as well as DP World London Gateway, which is a logistics facility with a container port and a rail terminal.
All told, the Freeport offers 1,700 acres of development land in close proximity to London. The cluster can offer easy connection to 130 ports across Europe and beyond.”
Verizon has already deployed Nokia Digital Automation Cloud, including Nokia radios with geo-redundant cores, and two MX Industrial edge (MXIE) per industrial site, leading to a total of six MXIEs. The site owners have provided Verizon with access to the 5G Band 77.
“Band 77 in the U.K. is available at low cost on a local-area licensed basis — enterprises can readily get access to exclusive use mid-band spectrum in the 3.8-4.2 GHz range. The U.K. regulator, Ofcom, has pioneered this model globally,” said Heavy Reading Senior Principal Analyst for Mobile Networks Gabriel Brown in an email to Fierce.
“To date, over 530 licenses have been issued to more than 90 licensees in this frequency range," added SNS Telecom & IT 5G research director Asad Khan.
Smart Ports
Brown noted that though it is based in the U.S., Verizon has an established small ports business in the U.K., with the Port of Southhampton one of its private 5G network clients. He added the operator also has an ongoing relationship with Nokia around private 5G.
“This new win shows advanced wireless technologies can scale to support nationally critical infrastructure with diverse stakeholders and use cases,” Brown said.
Verizon Business has been working on building its ports business for a while now, having already scored the aforementioned Southampton deal in April 2021. And its efforts appear to be paying off.
“I know there's been chatter about how Verizon Business was able to outbid domestic carriers,” AvidThink Principal Roy Chua stated. “It's likely some combination of demonstrated expertise in rolling out similar deployments and favorable financial terms. Definitely a win for Verizon Business (and Nokia) for sure.”