In the first phase of deployment, Nokia will cover the Al Muharraq area in Bahrain. After the successful completion of the first phase, the network will connect thousands of secondary substations and hundreds of primary substations spread across the entire country.

Nokia’s private LTE network will help EWA automate its smart grid in the city and will pave the way for easier adoption of internet of things (IoT) use cases in the future. EWA customers will experience superior and more reliable services.

In the first phase, Nokia's solution will connect 500 secondary substations and six primary substations to the central location. Its solution including a Nokia SAR-Hmc IP/MPLS wireless router, a Compact Mobility Unit (CMU), a Network Services Platform (NSP) and LTE radio equipment, will be used to build advanced private LTE networks. The solution will be based on Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standardization on 410 MHz band B87, which is specifically for industrial use for private LTE connectivity.

“Private LTE is enabling utility organizations around the world to simplify networks management and use automation to bring down costs,” said Kamal Bllout, head of Nokia Enterprise, Middle East, Africa, China and India at Nokia. “We are committed to modernizing and upgrading EWA’s distribution systems for better performance and reliability. Our end-to-end portfolio allows us to provide reliable and ultra-high-speed broadband wireless networking to our utility customers.”