Neutral host solutions

Enabling growth at scale with solutions built for the AI era

Capturing new opportunities with the neutral host model

The AI era is transforming the industry landscape and reshaping connectivity needs. New dynamics are in place, fueled by an abundance of investment in digital infrastructure and evolving infrastructure strategies of telecommunication providers. Regulators and policymakers worldwide advocate for infrastructure sharing to accelerate access to broadband services. Environmental regulations favor a sharing model to limit deployment density in urban areas. The rise of enterprise cloud and AI adoption is placing growing demands on communication infrastructure. This transformation represents an opportunity for independent infrastructure providers and telecommunication providers to expand their roles, explore new business strategies and unlock new revenue streams by adopting the neutral host model.

Growth

Secure your growth at scale and validate your strategic decisions, leveraging our comprehensive expertise and solutions built for the AI era.

Continuity

Guarantee long-term product continuity with our solid roadmaps driven by co-innovation with leading telecommunication providers.

Predictability

Remove operational complexity and unpredictability with our turnkey technology solutions, advanced automation capabilities and managed services.

The principles of neutral host sharing

In an integrated network model, a single provider offers the infrastructure and services and manages capex and opex to optimize its financial targets. In the neutral host model, infrastructure is separated from services, accommodating multiple tenants that provide services independently of one another. While the infrastructure provider optimizes its capex to maximize the tenancy ratio on its assets, the tenants focus on optimizing their opex to deliver the best services to their consumers.

What types of companies use a Neutral Host model?

Companies that own digital infrastructure assets or build networks on demand play a critical role in providing advanced connectivity for consumers and enterprises. By offering telecommunication providers and enterprise customers an innovative model, they can deliver multi-tenant, multi-domain infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) at significantly reduced costs, boosting or accelerating network deployments.

TowerCos

Independent owners, operators and developers of multitenant communications real estate, TowerCos lease space on communications sites to wireless service providers, radio and television broadcast companies, wireless data providers, government agencies and municipalities and tenants in several other industries.

FiberCos

Fiber-optic-networks-based communications companies provide a broad array of integrated products and services to domestic and global business customers and domestic mass market customers.

Data center colos

Colocation data centers provide vendor-neutral, multi-tenant data center colocation, interconnection and data exchange, and edge platform services to global enterprises, telecommunication providers, digital media and content providers, and the business ecosystems of industry partners.

Network builders

End-to-end network construction and solutions companies design, build and operate various types of neutral-host infrastructure, including fiber, cellular, WiFi and data centers.

InfraCos

Infrastructure service companies provide a combination of assets and network solutions. Depending on the infrastructure they own, InfraCos can apply the neutral host model in different — and often in multiple — ways.

Neutral host use cases

Traditionally, the core business of neutral hosts, or infrastructure companies, has been the sharing of passive infrastructure assets. Now, they are digitally transforming and exploring new business models to share active assets among their tenants. This evolution toward new use cases allows neutral hosts to monetize their infrastructure assets more efficiently and increase their tenancy ratios. The neutral host model can be applied to almost every domain of the telecommunication network.

Why Nokia

We are a leader in advanced connectivity and a trusted long-term partner for neutral host solutions. Our mission is to help neutral hosts in their digital transformation toward profitable platform-as-a-service models that will benefit the entire telecom industry.

Evolving infrastructure companies need a trusted partner

As you migrate toward neutral host models, a partner who understands the intricacies of separating services from infrastructure is vital. Nokia brings decades of business and technical experience in connectivity solutions to the table. We are a recognized thought leader, playing a leading role in standards bodies, and count among our customers major telecommunication providers, AI and cloud providers, mission-critical enterprises, defense organizations and governments worldwide.

Our portfolio caters to any contingency

Leveraging Nokia’s extensive experience across mobile, fixed and transport networks, we provide tailored multi-domain, multi-tenancy hardware and software solutions to support every network strategy. Our solutions enable automated onboarding of multiple tenants in the radio access network and fixed-transmission and access domains.

Our experience in neutral hosting is unmatched

With more than 400 neutral host deployments, we work with TowerCos, FiberCos, data center-colocation providers and network builders globally, spanning a wide range of implementation scenarios from fiber networks to mobile infrastructure and from compact indoor deployments to nationwide access networks.

Customer success stories

Nokia and Reflex expand broadband reach and quality across South Africa

Nokia and Hetzner enhance hosting infrastructure for scalable, automated, and sustainable services across Europe

Nokia and ACES-NH deploy 25G PON-based neutral host fiber network to enhance broadband connectivity across Saudi Arabia

Nokia, Windstream Wholesale and Colt Technology Services join forces to complete world’s first ultra-fast 800GbE optical and IP service trial connecting London and Chicago

lyntia leads pioneer test of quantum cryptography systems for data networks using low latency fibres, in collaboration with Nokia, LuxQuanta, ID Quantique, evolutionQ, OFS| Furukawa Solutions, and Digital Realty

STL and Nokia to collaborate on enterprise connectivity solutions and government-driven connectivity projects

lyntia, Nokia, OFS| Furukawa Solutions and Digital Realty are world pioneers in the implementation of hollow core optical fiber

Nokia chosen to expand Balitower’s IP network in Indonesia

OnNet Fiber Chile discusses neutral host model and its impact with Nokia in Chile

NBN Co achieves 20 Gbps speeds in live network with Nokia’s GPON, XGS PON and 25GS PON on same fiber network

ZCorum and Nokia partner to enable easy deployment of Nokia’s PON solutions

Cellnex Innovation Director, Jose Antonio Aranda, explains how neutral host companies provide open access to mobile operators

SiFi Networks CEO, Ben Bawtree-Jobson, explains how neutral host helps telecommunication providers treat fiber rollout as an Opex

lyntia and Nokia demonstrate power of PSE-6s coherent optics in live commercial network

American Tower and Nokia deploy next-gen neutral host infrastructure for FTTH

Condor Technologies develops Network Wholesale Portal using Nokia’s Altiplano SDK for infrastructure providers to become neutral host

Extenet SVP for Engineering, Mike Alt, explains in a podcast the utility of neutral host model

An image of a haulage system on a mountain top with a sunset in the background.

Edzcom and Callio Pyhäjärvi boost electrification and digitalization of Mining Industry with Nokia’s private 5G wireless solutions

A colourful close-up picture of optical fibre cables.

Ogi deploys Nokia’s 25G PON to provide future-proof capacity to Tramshed Tech

Lintas and Nokia trial PSE-V super coherent optics to increase Telin’s optical capacity and service quality

Frequently asked questions

What are neutral hosts?

Neutral hosts are companies that invest, build and manage network infrastructure assets for long-term recurring multi-tenancy revenue. These companies are involved in both passive and active infrastructure. The active services include, for example, residential broadband, connectivity-as-a-service, indoor and rural coverage, network densification and smart city connectivity. In addition, there are investment funds that take operational control of the companies they invest in.

What is the neutral host model?

In a neutral host model or wholesale model, infrastructure companies lease their infrastructure assets to multiple tenants, recouping their network build costs by hosting various providers on the same foundation. This shared infrastructure model enables the following:

Accelerated availability of advanced telecommunication services, such as in-building 5G connectivity, gigabit-fiber broadband and expansion of 5G coverage to underserved areas
Environmentally-sound alternatives to individual telecommunication provider deployments in dense areas, such as in-building, venues, or outdoor urban settings
Private 5G network operation for enterprises
Simplified access to edge computing capabilities, unlocking critical, latency-sensitive and massively data-consuming applications in various industries such as healthcare, logistics, automotive, and manufacturing

What is an example of a neutral host deployment?

Fiber access is a common example of an infrastructure company using a neutral host model. Fiber providers can run a fiber-to-the-home network that can be shared by multiple internet service providers. This shared infrastructure can include active elements such as optical line terminals (OLTs) deployed at centralized network hubs and optical network terminals (ONTs) deployed at end-user premises.

Neutral hosts can also offer dark fiber leasing under an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) model, allowing telecommunications providers or enterprises to lease their unused capacity. Moving up the chain, neutral hosts can offer platform-as-a-service (PaaS) under a business model similar to that of webscale companies — providing an active network as a platform for telecommunication providers to deliver their content and services to consumers and enterprises.

In the long term, neutral hosts will become an integral part of the industry ecosystem alongside telecommunication providers and webscale companies, providing high-end active connectivity to end-users and connecting enterprises in the AI era.