U.K. operator Vodafone has selected Oracle Communications for the provision of cloud-native network policy management for its Standalone 5G network.
In a joint release, Vodafone and Oracle noted that the supply of Oracle’s cloud native network policy management solution will enable the European telco to make more intelligent policy decisions and quickly test and deploy new services, including holographic calls, 5G game streaming without lag time, and film downloads at up to four times faster than 4G networks.
“Moving to ‘cloud native’ is a culture shift as much as it is a technology shift for a techcomms company like Vodafone,” said Andrea Dona, chief network officer, Vodafone UK. “Our partners must demonstrate flexibility and agility, as well as aligning to our vision of how technology will augment and support tomorrow’s digital society.”
The two companies also highlighted that the solution helps to dynamically prioritizes low-latency applications to edge data networks, while continuously optimizing network policies based on data analytics. For example, the solution can help Vodafone customers get the network offering that best suits their needs, be it connecting smart devices, utilizing live streaming, or enabling AR/VR gaming.
“5G undoubtedly opens the door for endless new ways to engage with our world, but intelligent policy management is the entryway to capitalize on these opportunities,” said Andrew Morawski, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Communications, Networks. “Our 5G and cloud capabilities are helping Vodafone to build a future-proof network that is automated, easier to scale, simpler to operate, and more cost-effective.”
Last month, Vodafone announced it had switched on what it claims to be the first 5G Open RAN (O-RAN) site in the country.
The site installed in the city of Bath is the first of 2,500 5G and 4G O-RAN sites that Vodafone committed to deploy as part of the U.K. government’s ambition to accelerate the development of the Open RAN ecosystem. Vodafone said that the 2,500 sites are expected to be fully deployed by 2027.
Vodafone initially launched 5G services in the U.K. in July of 2019. The telco’s initial offering covered parts of Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Glasgow.
The telco’s 5G network reached 124 towns and cities across the U.K. by mid-2021.
In June 2021, Vodafone launched a commercial pilot of 5G Standalone service in London, Manchester and Cardiff.
The commercial pilot will focus on testing new capabilities being introduced as part of 5G Standalone technologies, such as network slicing. It will also enable partners to test new Standalone-enabled devices on a live network.
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