Ireland’s leading mobile operator, Vodafone Ireland, and Nokia have signed an agreement for the supply of Nokia’s W-CDMA 3G solution. Deliveries begin in October, and under the agreement, Nokia will provide both 3G core and radio-access network equipment for the smooth roll-out and introduction of Vodafone Ireland’s nationwide W-CDMA network.

In addition to network equipment, Nokia will provide installation, commissioning, integration and project management services for efficient network ramp-up, and a wide range of care services to maintain the competitiveness of the network.

Insight

Nokia is building momentum in its infrastructure business. It has said that it would like 40 percent of this market over the next two years. The downturn has been most pronounced in the infrastructure market and the result has been that Ericsson has suffered, while Nokia, with its heavy bias towards handsets, has continued relatively unaffected. This fortuitous set of circumstances could see Nokia emerge on the upswing with even greater strength in both handsets and infrastructure.