Telecom Italia’s Brazilian unit signed a deal with Nokia to expand its 5G network in 15 states from January 2025, a move the vendor pushed as boosting services for consumers and aiding enterprise use of digital technologies.

Nokia highlighted TIM Brasil would take a range of equipment from its 5G offering including baseband units, massive MIMO radios and remote radio head products. This is alongside the vendor’s AI-toting network management system.

TIM Brasil CTO Marco Di Costanzo noted the deal was a “significant milestone” in its long-term partnership with Nokia, backing the latest network technology to “benefit industries and consumers with new services”.

The operator launched 5G in July 2022, starting with capital Brasilia followed by Sao Paulo, Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro.

As of end-June, its 5G network covered 353 cities with 87 added during Q2. At that point, 7.6 million of its 62 million connections used the technology.

In its financial presentation for the period, TIM Brasil claimed to be the market leader in 5G sites.