stc has expanded its strategic partnership with Ericsson for the deployment of 5G Core for New Radio standalone on Ericsson Cloud Native Infrastructure.
This new expansion on stc’s 5G Core (5GC) network will now support both 5G standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) in addition to 4G. The collaboration also includes the implementation of Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS) solution for more flexible and efficient network traffic performance.
5G Core SA supports new and innovative 5G applications for consumers and enterprises. 5G standalone (SA) offers several benefits like enhanced end-user experiences, simplified operations and service agility, improved network capabilities and, future-proof network architecture. It can also enable a greater number of services for enterprises and efficiency gains in simplification and operational efficiency.
Although Ericsson’s 5G Core can run on other cloud native infrastructures, stc has chosen the Ericsson system-verified solution providing low total cost of ownership while being open for third party applications and hardware. The architecture of the 5G Core gives stc the flexibility to be responsive to market demands while controlling costs at a time of growing network complexity. The agreement also includes continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) using Ericsson’s software pipeline for increased efficiency, reduced risk & service agility will be at the forefront to delivering Time to Market benefits to stc customers.
Eng. Bader A. Allhieb, Infrastructure Vice President at stc says, “Ericsson’s 5G Core solution will significantly enhance our network, optimize our subscriber experience, and help us deliver innovative 5G services faster to our customers.”
Lucky La Ricca, Vice President and Head of Digital Services at Ericsson Middle East and Africa says, “Utilising Ericsson’s 5G Core solution, stc will deliver cloud native applications that ensures capacity, and elasticity to the underlying infrastructure. Coupling this with high levels of orchestration and automation, higher levels of operational efficiencies will be achieved. This enables new and exposed network capabilities that will accelerate stc’s drive to release the full potential of new 5G-enabled, edge computing use cases defined by low latency and higher throughput.”
