As part of the extended deal, AT&T will update its Nokia IMS Voice Core to include VoNR in a fully cloud-native architecture
AT&T and Nokia have extended their existing partnership to include support for the evolution of the telco’s voice core offering and for injecting additional automation capabilities into its network.
AT&T is specifically looking to update its Nokia IMS Voice Core to include Voice over New Radio (VoNR) in a fully cloud-native architecture that it said enables flexible scaling and increased automation. The telco will also use the vendor’s digital operations software solutions, as well as the Nokia Cloud Platform (NCP) to “streamline network activities, enhance automation and minimize manual intervention.”
Yigal Elbaz, senior vice president of technology and network services at AT&T, commented: “With focused execution and investment, AT&T continues to make excellent progress in realizing automation at all levels of its network and service operations.” He added that the deeper tie with Nokia will allow AT&T to “further optimize” its network operations and enable new services to “better support [its] customers’ evolving needs.”
The agreement is a notable ecosystem development as Nokia lost a major AT&T contract in late 2023 when the telco selected rival Ericsson as its key infrastructure partner in its ambitious goal of running 70% of its traffic over Open RAN platforms by the end of 2026. To achieve this, AT&T is planning to spend roughly $14 billion with Ericsson over the next five years.
That’s not to say Nokia had completely struck out with the U.S. telco. Prior to the VoNR deal, the pair announced multi-year deal that will see the vendor provide AT&T with its next-generation fiber access technologies across it current footprint and for future expansions.
