Ericsson said the new 5G SA network will cover both Bouygues Telecom’s core and RAN networks
French telecommunications services provider Bouygues Telecom has selected Ericsson to deploy end-to-end 5G Standalone (5G SA) connectivity, the latter said in a release.
As part of the deal, the Swedish vendor will supply a 5G SA core network to the carrier. When fully operational, the end-to-end 5G SA network, which will cover both Bouygues Telecom’s core and RAN networks, will facilitate use cases across Bouygues Telecom’s entire customer base, from individual consumer subscribers to enterprise and industry customers, and other use cases where secure high-end public, hybrid or dedicated 5G networks are needed, Ericsson said.
Bouygues Telecom’s 5G SA connectivity will also use network slicing to help facilitate use cases in the Industry 4.0 sector. Standalone 5G will also be central to use cases involving artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and automation. Sectors likely to benefit from the Ericsson-Bouygues Telecom strategic partnership include industry, logistics, smart transport, events and healthcare.
The Swedish vendor said that services resulting from the end-to-end 5G network strategic partnership are expected to be available from early 2023.
Benoît Torloting, CEO, Bouygues Telecom, said: “This agreement with Ericsson, a long-standing partner, heralds the implementation of a key step for Bouygues Telecom in the deployment of 5G. This 5G Standalone core network will enable us to offer our consumer and enterprise customers the best of technology from 2023 on. Bouygues Telecom is proud to support them in their digital transition with the quality and security of its network.”
“This agreement with Bouygues Telecom reaches a new milestone to accelerate the digital transformation in France and take full advantage of 5G technology for both consumers and enterprises with the 5G Standalone mode,” said Franck Bouétard, head of Ericsson France.
“Ericsson’s solutions for dedicated private network, hybrid mobile network with a local packet gateway and mobile virtual network with slicing, will enable significant benefits with dedicated quality of service and lower latency, for critical and secure business applications,” Bouétard added.
Bouygues Telecom previously said that it will roll out its 5G network through a gradual process. In the first stage, the capacity will increase to maintain good service quality in very dense areas where data consumption is very intense.
In a second stage, 5G will facilitate new services for B2C and especially for B2B customers, the telco said. To roll-out its 5G network, Bouygues Telecom has decided simultaneously to install new antennas, using the 3.5 GHz frequency band, and to gradually migrate existing 4G frequency bands to 5G.
France had a total of 34,061 authorized 5G sites as of June 1, of which 24,949 were declared technically operational by the local mobile carriers, according to the latest monthly report published by France’s spectrum agency ANFR.
In France, mobile carriers are already providing 5G services through the 700 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum bands.
Free Mobile had the highest number of operational 5G sites as of the end of May, with 14,886 followed by Bouygues Telecom (7,267), SFR (6,190) and Orange (3,965).
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