As part of the deal, the latest generation of Ericsson quad-technology baseband, multiband and recently launched 5G Massive MIMO radio AIR 3258 will be deployed across VM02’s network.
VM02 will also become one of the first Communications Service Providers (CSPs) in Europe to trial Ericsson’s Cloud RAN solution, which the Swedish radio giant claims offers “a seamless evolution to cloud-native technologies and open network architecture”.
The deployment of the latest products and solutions from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio will span all towns and cities in the UK that have 4G and 5G VM02 coverage including Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh and Oxford.
Jeanie York, chief technology officer at Virgin Media O2, said: “This multi-million pound investment in our network will mean our customers can benefit from more reliable and faster services at the same time as reducing overall carbon emissions. Building on our long-standing relationship with Ericsson allows us to deliver improvements quickly and efficiently, helping us move rapidly towards the future-proof networks our customers expect.”
Another development which could be deployed as part of the deal is Ericsson’s new quad-carrier microwave transport radio MINI-LINK 6321 with 4.8Gbps capacity & Radio Deep Sleep support and Ericsson Router 6676. According to Ericsson, the new backhaul solution is three-times more energy-efficient than previous generations.
The world’s smallest quad carrier high power radio in the traditional frequency bands (6-42GHz) features dual transceivers (2T2R), carrier aggregation, wide channels, using up to 2x224 MHz and 8k QAM modulation to “support future 5G transport capacity needs”.
Commenting on the extended partnership with VM02, Katherine Ainley, UK chief executive of Ericsson, added: “Ericsson is at the forefront of high-performance and energy-efficient 5G networks and this new agreement is another important milestone on our journey together with Virgin Media O2 to bring the very best in next generation connectivity to key locations across the UK.
“As end-to-end partner on both Radio and Core we are building a network of the future that will not only offer superior connectivity for Virgin Media O2 customers but also deliver an innovation platform that can help to transform new industries and pave the way to a more connected digital society.”
