Deutsche Telekom has suddenly taken a renewed interest in Nokia. Years ago, this Finnish vendor supplied radio access network (RAN) equipment for Deutsche Telekom at approximately one-third of its wireless sites in Germany. However, the two sides “parted ways” in 2018—Deutsche Telekom excluded Nokia from its 5G commercialization and fully shifted to Ericsson. Now, Nokia, which had been sidelined for several years, appears to be regaining its charm, while the relationship between Deutsche Telekom and another equipment provider is cooling down.

Last year, Deutsche Telekom announced its transition to an “open” RAN—meaning the adoption of non-proprietary interfaces—planning to replace approximately 3,000 existing 5G sites with a hybrid solution from Nokia and Fujitsu (whose RAN products have now been rebranded as 1Finity). Subsequently, Deutsche Telekom confirmed that the replacement would specifically target Huawei—the Chinese vendor that had previously supplied RAN equipment for the other two-thirds of its network.

Thomas Lipps, Senior Vice President of RAN Decoupling and Capabilities at Deutsche Telekom, stated that changing suppliers does not mean “settling for second best.” “Nokia and 1Finity deserve praise,” he said at this week’s FYUZ conference in Dublin. “The quality we achieved remains on par with, or even surpasses, that of the replaced vendor.”

In addition to replacing these 3,000 Huawei sites, Nokia also assisted Deutsche Telekom in building new sites to achieve network “encryption.” Deutsche Telekom reported operating approximately 36,500 sites in Germany last year, with expectations for further growth. In some Nokia regions, RAN computing equipment from the Finnish vendor and 1Finity radio units were deployed, connected via the O-RAN Alliance-standardized fronthaul interface. The old proprietary specifications forced operators to purchase complete equipment sets from the same vendor.

In other regions, Deutsche Telekom has entrusted all major RAN components to Nokia—including all sites deploying massive MIMO. This advanced 5G technology integrates more antenna elements within the radio units. During the early stages of 5G, Nokia was once considered far behind Huawei in this field; now, the public praise from Deutsche Telekom’s RAN executives signifies that doubts about its technological competitiveness have become “a thing of the past”.

Fully Embrace Open RAN

This statement has also reignited hope among Nokia and some political figures: Deutsche Telekom may be preparing to replace Huawei on a larger scale. The European Union has officially designated Huawei as a national security risk, and the German government has not yet imposed a direct ban like other European countries, drawing criticism against Deutsche Telekom.

Lipps described the recent introduction by Nokia and 1Finity as “the first step in the transformation to open RAN.” He revealed that Deutsche Telekom will issue a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for approximately 30,000 sites outside Germany in January next year. If the scale is accurate, it will become the largest open RAN project in Europe, with potentially dire consequences for Huawei, which openly opposes the open RAN concept.

Deutsche Telekom has network coverage in other European countries, including Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, and Slovakia. Last year, it operated approximately 45,000 overseas sites, many of which still heavily relied on Huawei. According to data from Danish consulting firm Strand Consult, Huawei supplied 100% of the RAN in Austria and the Czech Republic, 70% in Poland, and 50% in Croatia.

Why issue an RFQ now? A spokesperson for Deutsche Telekom stated that it is necessary for network “modernization” and emphasized that this tender is “component-based,” requiring bidders to comply with open RAN standards. Regardless of geopolitical factors, this single requirement effectively excludes Huawei—Huawei products do not incorporate these standards, nor is the company a member of the O-RAN Alliance.

Certainly, the RFQ is not Nokia’s exclusive opportunity. Existing suppliers such as Ericsson and Fujitsu are bound to participate, and Deutsche Telekom has reportedly engaged in discussions with Samsung regarding the RFQ. This South Korean company has emerged as a viable 4G/5G alternative for European operators, recently signing an open RAN contract with Vodafone involving thousands of sites across Germany and other regions.

Before this week’s update, Bloomberg had reported that the German government was considering using public funds to support operators in replacing Huawei. According to current regulations, operators only need to remove Huawei from the “core network”—the software brain of the network—by the end of next year, and Germany currently has no Chinese core network equipment; on the RAN side, Huawei’s portion of the network management system must be replaced by the end of 2029.

It is reported that the operator did not simply procure network management systems from other vendors but instead collaborated to develop alternative technologies, specifically the “Service Management and Orchestration” (SMO) in Open RAN. “We are developing SMO in-house,” said Lips. “We are already transforming the OSS (Operations Support System) of RAN and achieving dynamic slicing in a multi-vendor environment using our proprietary software.”

As planned, Deutsche Telekom will use this “domestically developed” SMO to centrally manage multi-vendor RANs within Germany. The spokesperson did not disclose whether the SMO would be deployed abroad, but if extended, it would clearly compress the market space for external SMO suppliers. Lipp said the SMO will also incorporate an RAN intelligent controller (RIC), which will run internally developed applications and support third-party network applications.

“Dynamic slicing is just one part. If traffic prediction still relies on static models, it will inevitably fall short,” he said. “We must use AI for service quality and traffic forecasting, which is why we are developing our own applications to utilize resources more efficiently.”

In its 2024 annual report, Deutsche Telekom mentioned that its proprietary software would replace Huawei’s “Antenna and Transmission Network Configuration System”, “which will further advance the Open RAN strategy.” The report noted, “In countries such as Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland, components from key infrastructure vendors may still need to be replaced within specific timeframes.”—Nokia and other vendors are undoubtedly looking forward to this.