The new agreement also facilitates the rollout of 5G SA technology by O2 Telefonica

Ericsson and German carrier O2 Telefónica, controlled by Spanish telco Telefónica, have signed an extension to their core network partnership, the Nordic vendor said in a release.

The vendor noted that its dual-mode 5G Core and cloud infrastructure solutions already support mobile connectivity for O2 Telefónica’s 5G Standalone (SA), 5G Non-Standalone (NSA), 4G and 2G networks.

The new agreement underscores O2 Telefónica’s plans to build on the capabilities delivered through its recent cloud-native transformation with Ericsson which modernized its packet core network to be running on Ericsson cloud infrastructure, the vendor added.

The deal also aims to facilitate the rollout of 5G SA and future-proof its infrastructure for future technologies.

The collaboration covers Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core, cloud native infrastructure and NFVI solutions as well as a range of associated capabilities to deliver advanced 5G Core automation and orchestration.

Mallik Rao, chief technology and information officer of O2 Telefonica, said: “We always want to offer our customers an outstanding network experience by delivering the full value of cloud-native and 5G Standalone to them. The core network is the heartbeat for this. With Ericsson, we have embarked on a cloud-native transformation journey and are now going to develop it further by expanding our portfolio and capabilities towards network slicing, automation, and API access. This allows us to roll out new features faster and without temporary maintenance breaks – an important step towards the network of the future.”

Daniel Leimbach, head of customer unit Western Europe at Ericsson, said: “Our deep partnership with O2 Telefónica in Germany has been a significantly rewarding one from the start. Meeting its challenge to deliver a cloud-native core network for its 45 million subscribers while ensuring it was flexible enough to evolve in line with its strategy meant breaking new ground across a range of disciplines.”

Ericsson said its dual-mode 5G core currently powers close to 50% of the world’s live 5G SA networks. At the end of 2023, Ericsson had 40 live cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core networks in commercial operation with communication service providers worldwide.

In March, O2 Telefonica said it has already deployed nearly 10,000 5G base stations since it initially launched 5G services in October 2020.

The operator said it deployed an average of more than 50 new 5G transmitters every week since the launch of the network. Last year alone, the carrier installed 3,000 5G base stations across the country. The telco said its 5G network currently reaches 95% of Germany’s population.

In October 2023, O2 Telefonica announced the launch of its 5G SA network in the country under the 5G Plus brand. Until this launch, the German telco had been offering 5G services through the NSA 5G architecture partly via its LTE/4G core network.

The carrier’s 5G Plus uses frequencies in the 700 MHz, 1.8 GHz and 3.6 GHz bands.

The telco said it expects its 5G SA service to reach full coverage in Germany by the end of 2025.

Last year, O2 Telefónica and Ericsson had completed a proof of concept (PoC) with the aim of paving the way for the development of 5G cloud RAN technology in Europe.