Ericsson gets to the core of BT’s 5G network

Swedish kit vendor Ericsson is celebrating a deal win with UK telco BT, which will be deploying Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core on its Network Cloud.

The dual-mode bit refers to a combination of Evolved Packet Core and 5G Core, which means the Ericsson package supports 4G, 5G NSA and 5G SA. It’s fully container-based, which makes it cloud-friendly and will allow BT to deliver it on its new Network Cloud. It will apparently form a key component in BT’s move to a single converged IP network.

“Having evaluated different 5G Core vendors, we have selected Ericsson as the best option on the basis of both lab performance and future roadmap,” said Howard Watson, CTIO of BT. “We are looking forward to working together as we build out our converged 4G and 5G core network across the UK. An agile, cloud-native core infrastructure is at the heart of our ambition to enable the next generation of exciting 5G services for our customers and give the UK the world-class digital infrastructure it needs to win in the future global economy.”

Marielle Lindgren, Head of Ericsson UK and Ireland, kept things contrastingly short and sweet. “Ericsson and BT have a long history of working together and we are delighted to continue that relationship with this new dual-mode 5G Core deal,” she said.

It’s not clear from any of the supplied information how big a chunk of BT’s 5G core business Ericsson has grabbed, but this is a handy win for Ericsson regardless. The absence of an offsetting deal win press release from Nokia (or Cisco) implies Ericsson is the dominant 5G core supplier for BT as Huawei, of course, is out of the question. How much of BT’s legacy Huawei core kit will be replaced by this deal is also a mystery.