Telstra has selected Ericsson for several key programmes including the ‘Network of the Future’. The announcement was made over the weekend at a Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona.
The program includes:
- A nationwide optical network transformation and expansion
- 5G radio trials leading to early 5G launch readiness
- Creation of a media delivery Cloud to complement the existing Telco Cloud project
- Deployment of Australia’s largest Internet of Things (IoT) network via deployment of Cat M1 functionality across Australia
Ericsson said it will deliver a three-year optical transmission network and rollout plan to expand Telstra’s long haul, metro and regional optical networks – the foundation for Telstra’s fixed and mobile networks. Ericsson will supply, install and integrate the next generation of converged packet-optical solutions from Ciena. The solution will have the resiliency, speed and security to meet expected traffic growth, and support critical IoT and 5G traffic, along with cloud and media services.
Ericsson, Telstra and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, also announced plans to conduct inter-operability testing and an over-the-air field trial based on the expected 5G NR specifications being developed by 3GPP, which will form the basis of the global standards. These trials in Australia are aimed at accelerating commercialisation of the global 3GPP 5G standard to drive the 5G ecosystem towards scale.
Announced at last year’s MWC, Telstra’s Network Function Virtualization infrastructure (NFVi) program has made substantial progress to enable the first video call over a virtualised network function, the Enhanced Packed Gateway (EPG). Delivery of ‘live’ traffic on the NFVi platform is an important step towards preparing the Telstra mobile network for 5G, where capabilities such as network slicing allows combinations of capacity, speed, latency, quality of service and geographic delivery to meet different business requirements.
Further on Cloud, Telstra intends to extend the Ericsson Cloud platform deployment to include a media-optimised Cloud specially configured to carry dedicated broadcast media workloads.
Australia’s first national IoT network
Telstra is the first operator to deploy a national IoT-enabled mobile network which will enable an IoT footprint among the largest in the world. The deployed Cat-M1 capability will allow Telstra to deploy a comprehensive range of IoT applications quickly and flexibly – accelerating the growth of Australia’s IoT ecosystem.
Telstra and Ericsson have commenced localised Cat-M1 trials in Melbourne and Tasmania.
Image Credit: Ericsson