Nokia will help T-Mobile deploy a superfast “5G” mobile internet network across the United States in a $3.5-billion deal, the companies announced Monday.
Finland-based Nokia will provide T-Mobile its suite of 5G technology, and help build the telecommunications firm’s new-generation nationwide wireless network, the companies said.
“We are all in on 5G,” T-Mobile chief technology officer Neville Ray said in a release.
“And together with Sprint, we’ll be able to do so much more.”
US wireless operators Sprint and T-Mobile announced earlier this year that they are merging to form a new company and push development of a super-fast 5G network.
The merger must still be approved by regulators.
5G or fifth-generation wireless communications networks promise to move data so quickly that they would enable services such as remote surgery or driverless cars and allow customers to experience video and virtual reality with greater ease.
“Nokia and T-Mobile will advance the large-scale deployment of 5G services throughout the United States,” Nokia chief customer operations officer Ashish Chowdhary said in the release.
T-Mobile is one of the biggest earners for its parent Deutsche Telekom of Germany.
T-Mobile and Sprint — a subsidiary of Japan’s SoftBank — are at present the third and fourth largest US wireless operators, respectively.