Orange signed a contract extension with Nokia to upgrade its 5G radio infrastructure in France, a deal which includes a trial of the vendor’s cloud RAN solutions to assess a transition of the operator’s network towards the technology.

The agreement marks another big deal struck by Nokia this week, after it agreed an extension with US operator AT&T to upgrade the company’s voice core and aid a network automation push.

Under the latest four-year agreement, Nokia noted it would supply Orange France with equipment from its open-RAN compliant 5G Airscale portfolio, all powered by its ReefShark System-on-Chip technology to provide “superior coverage and capacity”.

Nokia added it would also supply AI-powered network management services, supporting all radio and mobile core technologies.

On the cloud RAN aspect of the deal, Nokia explained it is already helping global operators transition to a more-cloud based network approach. Orange will trial its anyRAN system, allowing the operator to assess “strategic options” for RAN evolution with purpose-built hybrid or cloud RAN solutions.

Nokia is starting to see traction with its 5G cloud RAN offering. It deployed the service for Finnish vendor Elisa at the end of 2024, a move the companies claimed as a European first.

Emmanuel Lugagne Delpon, CTO at Orange France stated the deal with Nokia would support its “pioneering efforts to drive superior customer experience further, reduce our environmental footprint and make our network as energy efficient as possible”.