O2 Telefónica Germany and Ericsson have mutually agreed to extend their core network collaboration. This agreement builds upon their initial partnership that began in 2020.
The company's dual-mode 5G Core and cloud infrastructure solutions currently offer mobile connectivity to 45 million O2 Telefónica subscribers, supporting 5G Standalone (5G SA), 5G non-Standalone (5G NSA), 4G, and 2G networks.
According to the companies, the agreement will enable them to enhance innovation and functionality within the core network to meet future demands.
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“With Ericsson, we have embarked on a cloud-native transformation journey and are now going to develop it further by expanding our portfolio and capabilities towards network slicing, automation, and API access. This allows us to roll out new features faster and without temporary maintenance breaks—an important step towards the network of the future,” said Mallik Rao, Chief Technology & Information Officer of O2 Telefónica in a company press release.
“Our deep partnership with O2 Telefónica in Germany has been a significantly rewarding one from the start,” added Daniel Leimbach Ericsson’s Western Europe Head of Customer Unit. “Meeting its challenge to deliver a cloud-native core network for its 45 million subscribers while ensuring it was flexible enough to evolve in line with its strategy meant breaking new ground across a range of disciplines,” he continued.
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The companies state that their current core network partnership is already providing exciting new benefits to customers. For instance, in May, they achieved a world-first by completing an In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) of network functions in the core network’s user plane. This allows the network's software to be upgraded without any downtime or service disruption for customers—something that was previously unimaginable without a cloud-native core.
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