Vodafone Ziggo is planning to roll out Ericsson’s virtual evolved packet core in the second half of this year as it looks to support growing data traffic.
Following completion of the deployment, Vodafone Ziggo plans to offer network slicing to ensure industrial customers get a guaranteed amount of network resources.
Ericsson said the requirement from businesses for the likes of ultra-reliable networks and ultra-low latencies or bandwidth were behind operators’ looking at offering the technology.
Last month Vodafone Ireland held a trial of network slicing technology in Ireland, claiming it could support new business models and help the rollout of fibre networks.
Arun Bansal, Head of Regions Europe and Latin America, Ericsson, added: “Last year VodafoneZiggo selected us as the supplier of Mobile Core and IMS Core. With the addition of the Ericsson virtual Evolved Packet Core solution, we are now delivering a suite of scalable, tightly integrated and future-proof core network solutions for the benefit of VodafoneZiggo’s customers.”
The vendor is also Vodafone Ziggo’s sole supplier for its macro radio network and managed services including network rollout, deployment, design and optimisation.
The operator is also working with Ericsson on a network upgrade ahead of the deployment of 5G. The project also includes the rollout of NB-IoT and LTE-M.