Nokia on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed its first 5G standalone (SA) call on a live network with China Unicom, and is expected to achieve full deployment of numerous software solutions with the operator several weeks ahead of schedule.
The data and voice calls, which marked firsts for Nokia on a 5G SA network, were completed earlier than planned in part due to Nokia’s experience-driven, customer-focused approach. By bypassing non-standalone (NSA) 5G core deployments entirely, Nokia was able to deliver 5G SA core for China Unicom and enable crucial network functions, such as network slicing capabilities.