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The new deal will see Nokia’s radio solutions enhance Solis’ private wireless offering, helping farms to maximise the value of real-time data insights and the latest agritech solutions
This week, Nokia has announced a new partnership with Brazilian infrastructure specialist Solis Tower Telecom do Brasil, aimed at deploying private networks for the agricultural sector.
The deal will see Solis incorporate a wide variety of Nokia products into their private wireless service offering, including Nokia’s AirScale radio solutions encompassing small cells, baseband units, radio heads, and Flexi Zone base stations.
This, the companies say, will allow Solis to offer improved private LTE and NB-IoT networks to agricultural customers, connecting machines, people, and sensors and providing detailed real-time information that can support farming operations.
“Bringing reliable connectivity and accelerating the digitalization of these rural communities is essential. It will help businesses and workers collaborate and innovate, becoming more productive and efficient, while enabling easier communications with co-workers and families. Through our industry-leading technology, we help our customer Solis bridge the digital divide and connect the unconnected,” explained Renato Bueno, Enterprise Sales Director for Nokia Mobile Networks in Latin America.
Deploying private networks for the agricultural sector has been a growing focus for wireless infrastructure vendors for a number of years now. Nokia’s rival Ericsson, for example, signed a deal with AgriBusiness Connect in Australia last year to explore the value of private 5G for farming operations.
But despite the clear value that improved connectivity can provide to farming operations, wireless service providers dedicated solely to the sector are few and far between.
Indeed, Solis itself is something of a newcomer, having been found in early 2023. Since then, the private network operator has deployed 150 towers and related wireless infrastructure to connect 2.1 million hectares of farmland as part of 76 separate projects.
Solis says it plans to increase this total to 350 4G mobile towers on farms by 2025.
“Our mission is to enter the planted forest sector now, but we also want to enter the coffee sector. We will unlock the segments according to the level of technological adoption of each group,” said company co-founder Felippe Antonelle.
The scale of the opportunity here should not be underestimated. Of all of Brazil’s viable farmland, only 19% currently has access to 4G or 5G connectivity, leaving the majority of farms unable to make use of new technologies like robots, drones, or autonomous vehicles.
“This important project will have a transformative impact on farming communities across Brazil giving them access to critical communications and internet access. It will drive greater efficiencies and increases in productivity. We are delighted to partner with Nokia on this and look forward to seeing how it will develop in the future,” said Antonelle.
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