BT picks Ericsson to deploy the core of its 5G networks

In the wake of uncertainty over Huawaei, Ericsson has been selected on the basis of lab performance and future roadmap, BT says

Swedish telecom equipment vendor Ericsson announced yesterday that it has signed a deal with British mobile carrier BT to deploy the core of its 5G network.

Ericsson said it would provide BT a dual-mode core that is able to support BT's existing 4G services as well as its upcoming 5G services.

"We are looking forward to working together as we build out our converged 4G and 5G core network across the UK," said Howard Watson, CTIO of BT.

"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, commented: "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."

The 5G Core from Ericsson will help BT to achieve its goal of moving to a single converged IP network while also providing its customers faster and enhanced services.

BT said it evaluated different 5G core vendors before picking Ericson as its 5G partner. However, Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei, which previously supplied core parts for BT's 4G network, was not considered for the new contract as the company has already been banned by the British government from supplying sensitive 'core' parts of 5G and gigabit-capable networks.

While announcing its decision in January, the government also said that there will be a 35 per cent cap on the use of equipment from "high-risk vendors" on non-core parts of the network.

Earlier this week, Huawei urged the UK to avoid reversing its previous decision on 5G networks.

In an open letter, Huawei's UK chief Victor Zhang said that the company has built trust among British customers over the past two decades by enabling them to provide affordable and reliable calls and data to consumers.

"Despite this, there has been groundless criticism from some about Huawei's involvement in the UK's 5G rollout," Zhang complained.

"Disrupting our involvement in the 5G rollout would do Britain a disservice," he added.

Earlier in December 2018, BT announced that it would begin removing Huawei equipment from the core of its mobile network. The company also said that it would not consider the Chinese firm for its 5G core contracts.

BT currently uses equipment from both Huawei and Finnish firm Nokia in its radio access network, although it said to be more reliant on the Chinese firm. The fibre network of BT also uses equipment from both suppliers, although it is currently in the process of deciding on a third vendor.

Earlier this year, BT said that introducing alternatives to Huawei would cost it nearly £500 million over a period of five years.