Telekom Srbija, Ericsson go live with Core network virtualized functions in Serbia

Ericsson and Telekom Srbija mark an important milestone in the path towards 5G, virtualizing some of the Core Network functions.

Under the terms of the Network Functions Virtualization contract, Ericsson’s full portfolio of network function solutions and related services have been harnessed to deploy Ericsson Cloud Core solutions.

This includes the Serbia’s first live Ericsson virtual Home Location Register (vHLR) based on virtual User Data Consolidation (vUDC). Added to the existing virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) and virtual Home Subscriber Server (vHSS), this means Telekom Srbija are able to optimize their network depending on present and future needs, making it a very cost-effective solution.

In a Customer-Centric Network, the virtual UDC solution eliminates the complexity of managing subscription by consolidating subscriber information from the different network silos into one common repository, creating a Unified Profile. This allows for a simpler and more scalable network topology, more efficiency on managing the network database resources and it also gives more flexibility to introduce new services.

Filip Banković, Chief Technology Officer, Telekom Srbija says: “Ericsson’s portfolio of VNF enables us to become more agile where efficiency, reliability and scalability are of top priority. This project is an important step in our transformation journey towards 5G, future-proofing our core network. It provides us with state-of-the-art virtual core applications that serve mobile and fixed access and extend the lifecycle of our legacy network.”

Antonio Passarella, Head of Ericsson Serbia says: “Ericsson is a long-term partner to Telekom Srbija and this achievement strengthens that partnership by evolving their existing network to the cloud, ensuring continued exceptional services to their customers. Telekom Srbija subscribers will benefit from best-in-class applications with full-service continuity of current high-quality communication services.”

The transformation enables Telekom Srbija to work in a more agile way when providing services to customers. Telekom Srbija customers will benefit from Ericsson’s market leading core network applications and Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) solution enabling fast introduction of new services and providing full service continuity.