Nokia unveiled a new range of chipsets designed to significantly reduce power consumption in current operator networks, as well as supporting future 5G requirements.

Dubbed ReefShark, the chipsets will begin “shipping in volume in Q3 2018”. The vendor said 30 operator partners are currently lined up for the new equipment. Reuters added Nokia will begin deploying the chipsets into wireless towers by the end of this year and expects mass-market deployments once 5G-ready devices hit the market as early as next year.

Nokia said in a statement the new chips can be incorporated into its existing AirScale suite of 4G and 5G-ready equipment, and can triple capacity per cell site to 84Gb/s, from the 28Gb/s its chipsets offer today. In addition, by deploying new RF chipsets for Massive MIMO, the size of MIMO antennas can be halved. Power consumption in baseband units can also be reduced by 64 per cent, the vendor explained.

The new chipsets comprise of front-end capabilities for LTE and 5G radio systems supporting Massive MIMO, as well as a baseband processor “capable of supporting the massive scale requirements of 5G”.

Henri Tervonen, CTO of Nokia Mobile Networks said the company “has created a clear competitive advantage” with ReefShark: “Its combination of power, intelligence and efficiency make it ideally suited to be at the heart of fast arriving 5G networks”.

Nokia is currently jostling for position with rivals including Huawei and Ericsson in developing mobile equipment ready for future 5G networks. The first 5G networks are expected to launch at the end of this year.

The new chipsets form part of Nokia’s end-to-end portfolio for 5G, dubbed Future X. Nokia said the portfolio, based on artificial intelligence (AI) automation, will be showcased at Mobile World Congress next month.