Building on the longstanding partnership between the two that started in 2012, Gigabit LTE is due to be launched from 2018 and 5G to start in the year 2020, the transformation of the network will enable Swisscom to expand its mobile broadband experience.
Commenting on the news, Heinz Herren, CIO and CTO at Swisscom, said: “We would like to offer the best network to our customers in Switzerland – today and in the future. That's why we invest massively in the latest mobile network technologies such as Gigabit LTE and 5G. Ericsson is a true leader in 5G technology and I am convinced that together, we will achieve our goal to deliver greater innovation and provide customers with the best experiences.”
The partnership is set to help Swisscom develop enterprise use cases based on Massive Machine Type Communication (MTC) and Critical MTC in the areas of factory automation, smart grids, intelligent mobility and digital health.
As part of the agreement, Ericsson will use its full stack telco cloud solution that has network slicing capabilities. Also the upgraded network will provide increased capacity and ultra-low latency for its Swisscom customers.
Swisscom will deploy Ericsson’s Radio Access solutions, which includes small cells, and Core solutions that include full stack Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI), virtualized Evolved Packet Core and virtualized IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Additionally, the agreement also includes network optimization services, planning, design and system integration.
Arun Bansal, senior vice president and head of Europe and Latin America at Ericsson, says: “This agreement is a prime example of our leadership in 5G and will take our partnership with Swisscom to the next level. Swisscom has been leading all generations of mobile technologies – from 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G development – in partnership with us, and now they will continue to lead the market with Gigabit LTE and 5G deployment. 5G is enabling new market opportunities for operators, industries and society as a whole. With its ambitious 5G rollout plans, Swisscom is seizing this opportunity.”
Speaking exclusively to GTB, Bansal elaborated on how this partnership is only the first of many plans the company has for its wider 5G strategy. “There are three pillars to our 5G strategy, number one we want to regain our market position as leaders in network technology, second is want to help networks operate more efficiently and begin to automate the networks and the third is centred on managed services – we are developing in the areas of machine learning, automation to enabling the networks to operate more efficiently.”
