Nokia announced that it has completed its first 5G standalone (SA) call on a live network with China Unicom, and is expected to achieve full deployment of numerous software solutions with the operator several weeks ahead of schedule.

The data and voice calls, which marked firsts for Nokia on a 5G SA network, were completed earlier than planned.

Nokia was able to deliver 5G SA core for China Unicom by bypassing non-standalone (NSA) 5G core deployments entirely, and enable crucial network functions, such as network slicing capabilities.

Nokia said it deployed its Unified Data Management, Shared Data Layer (5G Unified Data Repository), and Cloud Mobile Gateway (from its Cloud Packet Core portfolio) for the 5G Session Management Function and User Plane Function.

Nokia said this was complemented by Data Refinery charging and NetAct network management, with all products deployed in the cloud using the Nokia CloudBand cloud infrastructure and management solution.

Nokia CBIS platform is enabling software deployment across China Unicom’s existing multi-vendor hardware.

Nokia in June said that China Unicom selected it to supply around 10 percent share of its 5G core network. China Unicom has also selected Huawei and ZTE.

According to media reports, Nokia did not win any 5G radio contracts from Chinese telecom companies – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom – in recent bidding rounds.