Technology giant Ericsson and operator e& Egypt say they have extended their long-standing partnership through a four-year agreement focused on modernising and expanding e& Egypt’s network to enhance 5G readiness through what is described as an ambitious cloud-native transformation programme.
Ericsson says the expansion will lead to enhanced user experiences by introducing new services and accelerate the adoption of voice over LTE (VoLTE) at e& Egypt.
It provides enhancements to e& Egypt’s data management capabilities through the migration from unified data consolidation (UDC) network function to cloud-native unified data management (UDM). The agreement will additionally deliver upgrades to key core network applications including the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) for enriched communication services, Ericsson Dynamic Activation (EDA) and Service-Aware Policy Controller (SAPC) for streamlining processes and optimised quality of service (QoS).
As part of the agreement, Ericsson will also upgrade the network infrastructure supporting the core network, deploying Ericsson’s bare metal Cloud Native Infrastructure Solution (CNIS) and network functions virtualisation infrastructure (NFVI).
The agreement includes the modernisation and expansion of convergent billing solution Ericsson Billing, and mediation solution Ericsson Mediation along with cloud-native monetisation system Ericsson Charging to include the charging access function (CAF), advancing e& Egypt’s capabilities in the 5G era, and paving the way for new business opportunities and competitive marketing strategies.
These upgrades, says Ericsson, serve as enablers for the optimisation of e& Egypt’s network operations, as well as enhancing service offerings and monetising emerging use cases such as 5G and Internet of Things (IoT). They will also enhance the network performance by accelerating cloud-native transformation and 5G readiness.
Ericsson says it has a long history with e& Egypt that spans many years of collaboration across multiple dimensions and generations of mobile technology.
This announcement comes only days after we reported an Ericsson announcement of another major deal in the Middle East: a multi-year agreement to upgrade e& UAE’s 5G core network to support new services such as immersive gaming and mission-critical IoT services.
