Swisscom and Ericsson Extend Strategic Partnership

Continuing its mobile network expansion, Swisscom is extending its strategic partnership with Ericsson for another three years, aiming to transform its network into a smart network. Through automation, the use of AI, and increased innovation, the network will be modernized and ready for the future.

" We’ve been working closely with Ericsson for over 10 years with a great amount of trust and success. We are now taking the next step in this long-standing strategic partnership as we endeavor to turn Switzerland’s best network into its smartest one. This will enable us to not only offer our customers the best customer experience but also to place an even greater focus on sustainability and innovation," explains Gerd Niehage, CTIO at Swisscom.

"In this innovative partnership, Swisscom’s characteristically Swiss pursuit of perfection meets the global technology leadership from Sweden’s Ericsson. Our common goal is to raise the bar even higher and continue to develop Switzerland’s best network into its smartest one. We have already set important benchmarks for the global development of the telecommunications market from within Switzerland in recent years," added Daniel Leimbach, Head of Customer Unit Western Europe at Ericsson.

The far-reaching agreement, with a special focus on innovation, performance, and energy efficiency will see the introduction of Ericsson’s lightweight dual-band Radio 4490 as well as the company’s next-generation RAN processor from Ericsson’s RAN Compute portfolio, designed to serve all technologies from a single box and supporting real-time AI processing. The agreement also includes deploying Ericsson’s Massive MIMO portfolio across multiple sites as a part of the continued effort to expand coverage.

It also will bring network improvements from the introduction of Ericsson's Cloud Native Infrastructure Solution (CNIS) to support telecom applications across the business, which enables software upgrades during operation and is also highly energy-efficient. Ericsson’s Intelligent Automation Platform (EIAP) and its open rApp (automation applications) ecosystem will also be introduced, offering the Swisscom network access to a wide range of new applications that should bring access to a host of new capabilities.