Swisscom has chosen Ericsson as its strategic supplier for Gigabit LTE and 5G as it embarks on a comprehensive digital transformation of its mobile network. The operator plans to roll out Gigabit LTE across Switzerland from 2018 and introduce 5G from 2020, with the aim of modernizing its infrastructure and delivering faster, more reliable mobile broadband.
Through the deployment of Gigabit LTE and 5G, Swisscom intends to provide customers with an enhanced mobile experience, characterized by higher speeds, lower latency and greater capacity. Under the new partnership Ericsson will revamp Swisscom’s mobile operations by deploying a full-stack telco cloud solution that includes advanced network slicing capabilities, enabling flexible, software-driven network management.
In June 2017 both Swisscom and Ericsson demonstrated applications leveraging 5G network slicing and NB-IoT, showing how these technologies can support diverse use cases from consumer broadband to the Internet of Things. The combination of Gigabit LTE, 5G and NB-IoT is expected to strengthen Switzerland’s competitive position and accelerate the country’s broader digital transformation by enabling new services and smarter infrastructure.
Arun Bansal, Senior Vice President and Head of Europe and Latin America at Ericsson, said this agreement highlights Ericsson’s leadership in 5G and deepens its long-standing partnership with Swisscom. He noted that Swisscom has driven the adoption of successive mobile generations—2G, 3G, 4G and now 5G—in collaboration with Ericsson, and that the operator will continue to lead the market with its Gigabit LTE and 5G deployments. Bansal emphasized that 5G opens new opportunities for operators, industries and society, and that Swisscom’s ambitious rollout plans position it to seize those opportunities.
Heinz Herren, CIO and CTO at Swisscom, stated that the company is committed to offering the best possible network for customers in Switzerland, both now and in the future. To that end, Swisscom is making substantial investments in cutting-edge mobile network technologies such as Gigabit LTE and 5G to ensure superior performance and to support emerging digital services.