Nokia is ramping up its product portfolio to help operators boost LTE coverage and increase network performance, with the view of ensuring “a smooth transition to 5G”.

In a statement, Nokia said the move comes in response to mobile broadband traffic growth, with operators experiencing a greater strain on their network.

The Finland-based vendor is seeing demand for more capacity, higher speeds and varying network latency “to meet the needs of individuals, businesses and IoT”, with the eventual evolution to 5G in mind.

To that end, Nokia “defined a sustainable network evolution path”, which it said will allow operators to use existing investments and maximise assets such as spectrum, enabling them to “implement higher performance” where and when required on the network.

Nokia’s European rival Ericsson made a similar move yesterday, boosting its 5G platform with the addition of a new radio product and introducing a set of network services designed to “ease operators’ journey from 5G preparation to actual launch”.

Nokia solutions
Breaking out Nokia’s expanding product set, the company is adding to its AirScale Remote Radio Head portfolio.

The move will enable operators to “increase peak performance and cell capacity”, by leveraging carrier aggregation techniques, 4×4 MIMO and 8×4 beamforming.

This will also address demand for higher output power, extend frequency band support and simplify network rollouts.

In addition, the vendor announced a boost to its small cell platform, which helps boost capacity and coverage in busy hotspots, particularly in dense urban environments.

The company said its Flexi Zone Citizen Band Radio Service small cells offers operators a new option to boost coverage, particularly inside buildings. Other upgrades include backing for carrier SDN solutions, and updates to its cloud packet core.

For 5G, the vendor said it was expanding its 5G Acceleration Services portfolio to work with operators “to assess the readiness of the network and design, and implement their 5G strategies and services.”

Indeed, rival Ericsson made similar noises yesterday, unveiling a set of new network services to help operators “on the road to 5G” through a three step process.