Vodafone selects Ericsson for network upgrade in the Czech Republic
Vodafone selected Swedish vendor Ericsson to upgrade its network infrastructure in the Czech Republic. The upgrade is said to allow Vodafone Czech Republic to offer voice-over-LTE and Wi-Fi calling technology.
“Vodafone will be the first operator in the Czech Republic to offer, on a massive scale, such calling services going beyond cellular coverage calls. Thanks to the freely available Wi-Fi calling application, Vodafone customers can take advantage of this modern service on any phones running Android 4.0 or later,” said Vodafone Czech Republic VP for end users Petr Dvořák.
The deal stipulated the deployment of Ericsson IP Multimedia Subsystem – with Call Session Control Function, Multimedia Telephony Application Server, and Session Border Gateway – and Ericsson Wi-Fi Mobility Gateway, User Data Consolidation and related professional services.
Vodafone had initially launched commercial LTE services in the Czech Republic in July 2013. The operator currently offers LTE services through spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.1 GHz bands.
IHS Markit expects 42% CAGR for NFV from 2015 to 2020
The global network functions virtualization market, including NFV hardware, software and services, is expected to generate $15.5 billion in revenue by 2020, according to a recent report from IHS Markit.
The study revealed that by 2020, only 11% of NFV revenue will be attributable to new software and services; and 16% will come from NFV infrastructure, including servers, storage, switches — acquired in place of purpose-built network hardware such as routers, deep packet inspection products and firewalls. The remaining 73% is set to originate from existing market segments, primarily virtual network functions.
