Nokia and TPG Telecom announced that they have deployed the Asia Pacific region’s first 5G femtocell in a live network. Using Nokia’s unique modular 4G/5G Smart Node, the solution allows operators to provide their customers with superior indoor 5G coverage from a dedicated femtocell.

Nokia Smart Node is a dedicated indoor solution providing superior coverage and capacity and can be easily scaled from single to multiple units to meet the customer’s indoor coverage requirements. Delivering high-quality coverage, low latency, and reliability, the solution provides solid 4G and 5G connectivity for the demanding use cases expected by TPG Telecom’s enterprise customers. The ‘plug-and-play capabilities also make it easy to set up, which keeps installation costs to a minimum. Nokia Smart Node can be wall, ceiling, or desktop mounted.

Nokia Smart Node supports traffic management by reducing core network load and optimizing macro resource allocation. It delivers uncongested high-throughput network performance with existing secure authentication and provides a secure connection and SIM-based authentication to assure the quality required in mobile networks. It is future-proof and supports both non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) 5G deployments.

TPG Telecom will be rolling out Nokia’s Smart Node solution to selected enterprise customers in the coming months.

Jonathan Rutherford, Group Executive, Enterprise and Government at TPG Telecom, said: “We’re excited about the possibilities this product provides for our business customers in particular. Nokia Smart Node is a simple, cost-effective, and seamless ‘plug-and-play’ solution to provide indoor 5G coverage for small and medium businesses and corporate branch offices.”

Yago Lopez, General Manager, of Wireless and Transmission Networks at TPG Telecom, said: “The Smart Node solution is another unique product from Nokia that TPG Telecom will be deploying as part of its smarter 5G network.”

Rob Joyce, Chief Technology Officer of Australia and New Zealand at Nokia, said: “This new addition to Nokia’s award-winning and industry-leading small cells portfolio helps operators like TPG Telecom deliver targeted 5G coverage and capacity to their key customers. The Smart Node simply plugs into a customer’s existing broadband connection, and that’s it—superior 5G coverage indoors; it couldn’t be simpler.”