Swisscom has strengthened its long-term strategic partnership commitment to Ericsson with a deal extension focusing on continued 5G deployment, including 5G Standalone rollout. 5G Standalone will enable Swisscom to deliver superior network performance and new use cases to its customers.
Swisscom and Ericsson began the strategic partnership in 2015, extending it to include 5G in 2017. The partners have now renewed the deal with the ambition of continuing to lead 5G transformation in Europe.
The deal includes a defined scope to enhance customer experience through a superior network, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) powered design and optimization and innovative solutions over the next three years.
The partnership extension is a major step towards transitioning Swisscom’s live 5G network to 5G Standalone mode with cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core – to include container-based Ericsson Cloud Packet Core and Ericsson Cloud Unified Data Management and Policy.
The new contract will see Swisscom taking advantage of Ericsson’s entire 5G portfolio in a bid to further develop one of the best mobile networks in the world. 5G will be the key enabler.
Through increasing automation, AI/ML, cognitive software for network optimization and cloud native infrastructure, customers will be able to utilize the 5G benefits of even higher speeds, lower latencies and network slicing.
The deal also covers Ericsson Radio System products and solutions, including 5G NR carrier aggregation and 5G RAN Slicing.
In the latest network testing from CHIP, Swisscom again topped the Switzerland/Germany/Austria region for delivering the best performance in mobile surfing, streaming and calling, according to the 2021 Mobile Network Test DACH. Swisscom topped all categories, including 5G and in-train coverage. Swisscom also topped all relevant benchmark tests in 2020 in Switzerland.
The renewed contract is the latest in a long list of successful engagements between the partners. Together, they switched on the first European commercial 5G network in April 2019. As of April 2021, 96 percent of the Swiss population is covered by Swisscom 5G. The partners recently made the first voice and data calls over a commercial 5G Standalone network in Europe, giving the green light to continued network evolution.
Mark Düsener, Head of Mobile & Mass Market Communication, Swisscom, says: “Together, we have been first in Europe to turn on 5G commercially and have proven your technological leadership and our innovation capability. This new deal confirms our joint commitment to follow this path and to further accelerate the development of 5G technology. We are continuously working to provide our customers with the latest 5G experiences and in Ericsson, we have access to the best deployment solutions for 5G.”
Martin Bürki, Country Manager, Ericsson Switzerland, says: “Our strengthening partnership with Swisscom will open up new opportunities in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 domains. This deal is further helping enterprises and consumers to accelerate 5G to Standalone with ultra-low latency and higher data rates. We’re a proud partner to Swisscom and we want to continue to provide their customers with best-in-class 5G technology.”
The latest Harnessing the 5G Consumer Potential report from Ericsson ConsumerLab estimates that 5G could drive up to USD 31trillion in cumulative consumer revenue in the ICT industry by 2030.
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