Nokia combined with MVNO and telecoms infrastructure specialist Solis to provide private networks for Brazilian agriculture businesses in rural areas, claiming the technology offers huge benefits for the sector.

In a statement the Finnish vendor explained many rural parts in Brazil remain unconnected, with only 19 per cent of agricultural land deploying 4G and 5G.

Its partnership with Solis will target the expansion of private LTE networks, which will connect “machines, people and sensors” to provide real-time data to support farmers.

Agribusiness accounts for 25 per cent of Brazil’s GDP, and the duo hope private networks can aid in the “productivity, efficiency and sustainability and ultimately an increase in food production”.

Nokia will provide its roster of equipment including its AirScale portfolio which features small cells, baseband, macro remote radio heads and base stations, on top of solutions supporting IoT use cases.

Nokia added private wireless can also support agriculture workers perform everyday tasks through the use of mobile banking and “instant communications” with their managers or families.

The vendor promoted Solis, an agriculture-focused operator and infrastructure provider, as having “the capacity to build infrastructure and meet the demands of a country as large as Brazil with the quality and reliability that new agricultural operations require”.

The companies claim Brazilian farms, including the Vera Cruz do Xingu farm, are already benefitting from the networks.

Director at the farm Henrique Carneiro Goncalves said private networks deployment “has transformed our operations”, citing IoT monitors enable it to access data on humidity, harvesting and fuel consumption.