Swisscom taps Ericsson to future-proof mobile network

Ericsson and Swisscom announced the expansion of their longstanding partnership with a new multi-year agreement to boost its innovation ecosystem, and drive the next period of growth and energy efficient performance of the service provider’s 5G network in Switzerland.

Swisscom’s mobile network has been top ranked in Switzerland for the past seven years in the connect magazine (and umlaut measuring institute) mobile network test. The results indicate the reliability and performance of its mobile network which has evolved in recent years under Swisscom’s cloud-native transformation plans.

In addition to providing outstanding 5G experience to its users, with these new additions to its network, Swisscom is also reinforcing its focus on sustainability by implementing products and solutions that improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

The new agreement will see the introduction of Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform (EIAP) to provide comprehensive multi-technology network management and automation for the Swisscom network. The adoption of the platform means Swisscom can take advantage of the growing Ericsson portfolio of rApps, including AI powered Cognitive Software rApps, as well as rApps available from other contributors to the open EIAP rApp Ecosystem. The EIAP ecosystem and Software Development Toolkit (SDK) will be an essential tool for Swisscom to enhance its subscribers' service experience while delivering operational savings through industrial scale automation in the radio access network. That focus on subscriber experience will be further boosted by Swisscom’s renewal of its Ericsson Expert Analytics deployment. Powered by machine-learning and artificial intelligence technology, it analyzes and resolves potential subscriber issues in real-time to ensure unrivalled quality of service for users.

The new contract will also see the introduction of Ericsson’s award-winning and highly energy-efficient lightweight dual-band Radio 4490, as well as a next-generation RAN processor from Ericsson’s RAN Compute portfolio. With the capacity to serve all new and existing radio technologies from a single box, Ericsson RAN Compute processor is characterized by a small footprint and low energy consumption, and the ability to support real-time AI processing without capacity loss. Swisscom further aims to equip a large number of sites with Ericsson’s Massive MIMO portfolio in the next three years as a part of the continued effort to expand mid-band TDD coverage further.

Another important development stream is marked by continuous spectrum refarming to New Radio (NR), with which the service provider prepares its network for 5G Standalone deployment with the possibility of launching new services.

Ericsson has long provided Swisscom with its Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) solution to support its telecom applications. With this new deal the service provider will now take on Ericsson’s Cloud Native Infrastructure solution (CNIS). For Swisscom, this means further enhancing the network’s well-established reliability and expanding the ability to host cloud-native telecom applications from Ericsson as well as from third-party providers. It will also help reduce overheads needed to manage the cloud platform and infrastructure, introduce further energy efficiencies, and optimize the total cost of ownership (TCO) overall.

The deployment will bring together a close collection of telecom partner companies such as Extreme Networks and Dell Technologies, which contribute components, infrastructure and capabilities to the solution, all collaboratively engaged to ensure Swisscom and its subscribers enjoy the best possible network performance.

Finally, the latest agreement will underpin the continuation of Swisscom and Ericsson’s deeply collaborative relationship, with further links drawn between product development teams ensuring smooth access to the latest Ericsson software innovations and updates.

Gerd Niehage, CTIO Swisscom says: “We’ve been working closely with Ericsson for over 10 years with a great amount of trust and success. We are now taking the next step in this long-standing strategic partnership as we endeavour to turn Switzerland’s best network into its smartest one. This will enable us to not only offer our customers the best customer experience, but also to place an even greater focus on sustainability and innovation.”

Daniel Leimbach, Head of Customer Unit Western Europe at Ericsson, adds, “In this innovative partnership, Swisscom’s characteristically Swiss pursuit of perfection meets the global technology leadership from Sweden’s Ericsson. Our common goal is to raise the bar even higher and continue to develop Switzerland’s best network into its smartest one. We have already managed in recent years to set important benchmarks for the global development of the telecommunications market from within Switzerland."