Optus has deployed Australia’s first Interleaved Passive Active Antenna (IPAA) in Yeerongpilly, Brisbane in collaboration with Nokia.

The IPAA solution eases site related challenges which accelerates the introduction of 5G services across the country.

Mobile operators such as Optus face challenges in finding space on towers and rooftops for new massive MIMO active antenna equipment. Delays in acquiring permission for site upgrades; strengthening of the supporting structures and higher rental payments to landlords are some of the issues.

Nokia’s IPAA solution was developed in collaboration with CommScope. It will allow Optus and other operators to upgrade existing sites to 5G by replacing their existing antennas with a similar sized unit that supports all legacy technologies as well as 5G massive MIMO active antenna, all in a single compact solution.

Lambo Kanagaratnam, Managing Director of Networks at Optus, said: “The introduction of the IPAA into our network infrastructure will help us speed up the deployment of our 5G network by addressing space and structural capacity constraints.”

Rob Joyce, Chief Technology Officer of Australia and New Zealand at Nokia, said: “The IPAA is an advanced technical solution to tackle the problems of finding space on towers and rooftops for 5G upgrades.”