INDUSTRY WATCH: TELECOMS
it comes to Africa, we need to shift
the focus towards lower frequencies:
“Yes, the high frequencies do provide
the reliable, fast broadband we
associate with 5G, but it is only really
commercially viable in very densely
populated urban areas. South
Africa, and Africa as a whole, has
few such areas – the population is
more spread out. Lower frequencies
will make it possible to roll-out the
technology to rural areas.”
Meanwhile, Cisco is anticipating
what is next and helping mobile
service providers to realise the vision
of an analytics-driven, dynamic,
knowledge-based, 5G-ready network:
“It is an elastic and programmable
mobile architecture that leverages
virtualisation and the cloud to
capitalise on the Internet of Things
and network knowledge,” says
Mattielo. “It allows providers to
quickly and easily innovate services
like Voice over LTE, Licensed Small
Cells, Voice over Wi-Fi, Service
Provider Wi-Fi solution, and mobility
analytics. That is all possible using
Cisco’s Universal Intelligent Access,
combined with a packet core,
orchestration and additional mobile
capabilities anchored into the
Evolved Packet Core.
“Cisco has already partnered with
Ericsson, as well as teaming up
with Intel and Verizon, with the
aim of creating a next-generation
5G router. It is vital that mobile
network operators start putting
the foundations in place now, to
make the most of what’s coming,”
concludes Mattielo. n
“The challenge in
Africa is going to
be the allocation
of spectrum, which
is dependent on
the regulators
in the different
countries.”
www.intelligentcio.com
Vodafone Egypt selects
Ericsson’s SGSN-MME for
network virtualisation
Ericsson’s cloud-based open platform for
NFV is enabling service providers to move to
the next level of customer experience while
successfully managing costs.
Osama Said is Vodafone Egypt Technology Director
H
aving selected Ericsson as its
network functions virtualisation
(NFV) partner, Vodafone Egypt
has gone live with the first commercial
virtual network function in the Middle
East. Since October 2016, Ericsson’s
virtual Serving GPRS Support Node
– Mobility Management Entity (SGSN-
MME), has been serving and managing
commercial mobile broadband traffic on
the Vodafone Egypt network.
Based on the leading Ericsson
pooling concept, Vodafone Egypt
network runs using a combination
of virtual and native SGSN-MME in
the same pool, supporting efficient
capacity expansion.
The SGSN-MME is a network
management tool designed to support
packet-data switching as well as improve
session and mobility management. Ericsson has experience in the
deployment and operation of
commercial LTE-EPC networks, having
built and operated more than 300
networks worldwide that include either
a native or virtual SGSN-MME. Evolved
Packet Core is a framework for providing
converged voice and data on a 4G Long-
Term Evolution (LTE) network.
The Ericsson virtual SGSN-MME
supports multi-access technologies
such as GSM, WCDMA and LTE, and
interworks with Wi-Fi. It provides full
feature parity, and is agnostic to the
underlying cloud system with support
for both OpenStack and VMware. This technology is continuously evolving
to incorporate new functionalities,
creating new business opportunities
for operators and reducing costs. The
Ericsson SGSN-MME network capabilities
meet aggressive traffic growth
predictions. It provides scalability and
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