Nokia Networks isn’t being left behind as T-Mobile starts the latest phase of its 4G network rollout. The Finnish mobile equipment maker announced today that it has scored the other half of the contract to expand T-Mobile’s LTE systems into the PCS and 700 MHz bands and bring the country’s No. 4 carrier into rural areas it had long neglected.
As T-Mobile revealed last week, Ericsson is T-Mobile’s other vendor. Neither choice should come as a surprise since both built T-Mobile’s original LTE networks as well as its 3G HSPA+ networks. Carriers tend to stick with their suppliers for the long haul unless there’s a drastic change in circumstances, such as one going bankrupt or abandoning a technology line.
Ericsson is building T-Mobile’s network on the coasts while Nokia is handling the rollout in the areas in between. Nokia will handle upgrades in its territories to glue T-Mobile’s three different LTE networks together, using a LTE-Advanced technique called carrier aggregation. It is also supplying the gateways that power T-Mo’s new voice-over-LTE services.

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