AT&T appoints Ericsson for the Expansion of 5G Network

Ericsson and AT&T today announced a five-year agreement to speed up the expansion of AT&T 5G. The deal comes off the strength of more than two decades of collaboration between the two companies.

The deal will aid in the deployment of AT&T’s recently acquired C-band spectrum and the commissioning of 5G Standalone (SA). AT&T is tapping into Ericsson’s leading network expertise as the company works toward its 5G network goals.

Ericsson will help AT&T to bring its 5G network to more consumers, businesses and first responders across key industries – including 5G use cases in sports and venues, entertainment, travel and transportation, business transformation and public safety.

The Ericsson Radio System portfolio has been pivotal in AT&T’s network evolution and these includes  the Advanced Antenna System, Advanced RAN Coordination and Carrier Aggregation technologies.

These deployments will support future network enhancements like Cloud RAN, which offers communications services providers increased flexibility, faster delivery of services and greater scalability in networks.

The solution supports a centralized RAN architecture enabled by Ericsson Fronthaul Gateway, a new technology that will enable a more efficient transport of the fronthaul interface by converting it to packet (eCPRI).

In July, AT&T moved its 5G Mobile Network to the Microsoft cloud in a partnership that will see AT&T run its mobility network on Microsoft’s Azure for Operators cloud, delivering cost-efficient 5G services at scale.

Scott Mair, President, AT&T Network Engineering and Operations, says: “As we continue to expand our nationwide 5G network, Ericsson’s technology offerings and 5G expertise will assist with our network evolution. This latest agreement provides the pathway for us to deploy Ericsson’s next-generation centralized RAN architecture, enabled by Fronthaul Gateway, with the ability to support future network enhancements, like the evolution to Cloud RAN.”

Ericsson Cloud RAN is a cloud-native software solution handling compute functionality in the Radio Access Network (RAN). It complements the existing technologies in the RAN domain and allows for the adoption of leading practices to become a foundation for openness, enabling innovation in 5G.

Ericsson Cloud RAN will enable communications service providers to seamlessly evolve towards cloud-native technologies and open network architectures to meet the demand for more deployment flexibility.

Niklas Heuveldop, President and Head of Ericsson North America, says: “This agreement reinforces our long-standing partnership of innovation and execution with AT&T. 5G networks will enable unprecedented, sustainable and exponential growth, accelerating the digital transformation of industries and the public sector, for the benefit of consumers, enterprises and society at large. Ericsson is excited to join forces with AT&T to help make this vision a reality.”