The new agreement will support AT&T’s aim of covering 70-75 million people with 5G over C-band by end of next year and plans to reach 200 million by end of 2023
AT&T plans to leverage Ericsson’s technologies to roll out its 5G standalone network. (Credit: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
Swedish telecommunications firm Ericsson has signed a five-year agreement with AT&T to help build the latter’s 5G network in the US.
AT&T, which won an auction for C-band spectrum earlier this year, plans to leverage Ericsson’s technologies to roll out its 5G standalone network.
As part of the new agreement, Ericsson will support the American mobile services provider to bring its 5G network to more consumers, enterprises and first responders across key industries, including 5G use cases in sports and venues, entertainment, business transformation, travel and transportation, and public safety.
The Swedish firm will deploy its radio access network (RAN) technologies such as advanced antenna system, advanced ran coordination and carrier aggregation portfolio.
Ericsson stated that the deployments will support future network enhancements such as Cloud RAN that offers communications services providers enhanced flexibility, rapid delivery of services and greater scalability in networks.
Ericsson North America head and president Niklas Heuveldop said: “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.”
Ericsson Cloud RAN is a cloud-native software solution that supports a centralised RAN architecture enabled by Ericsson Fronthaul Gateway, which facilitates a more efficient transport of the fronthaul interface by changing it to packet (eCPRI).
The new agreement support will AT&T’s aim to cover 70-75 million people with 5G over C-band by end of next year and plans to reach 200 million by end of 2023.
AT&T network engineering and operations president Scott Mair said: “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 centralised RAN architecture, enabled by Fronthaul Gateway, with the ability to support future network enhancements, like the evolution to Cloud RAN.”