By Aduragbemi Omiyale
One of the major telecommunications providers in Africa, Airtel Africa, is already positioning itself for the future and has partnered with Ericsson to relocate and modernise its existing network and core services to a new data centre in Seychelles.
This will enable the firm to prepare for the evolution in the industry as Voice over Long-Term Evolution (VoLTE) becomes the new standard for calling throughout the world.
Also, the 5G network is gradually gaining ground across the globe and in Nigeria, its subsidiary has been given the go-ahead to bid for a spectrum for the provision of this service in the country.
In order to be well-positioned to deliver seamless services to its subscribers, the company partnered with Ericsson for this job, which will enable it to have an efficient infrastructure capable of providing VoLTE and 5G services.
The virtualization and cloud-based evolution of the Airtel Africa network will prepare the service provider for VoLTE and 5G network infrastructure in the near future.
Featuring a blend of legacy and virtualized network functions, the partnership will provide Airtel Africa with a new hybrid network cloud environment, bringing significant efficacy gains.
The hybrid network cloud environment will increase network and cost efficiency, reduce time to deploy applications, and enable developers to innovate and bring new applications to Airtel Africa subscribers quicker.
“Our newest partnership with Ericsson to modernize and relocate our network and core services to a new data centre in Seychelles brings us one step closer to our ambition to build a world-class network.
“The data centre will drive innovation and enhance our core services to help us develop the efficient infrastructure for the introduction of VoLTE and 5G services in the near future,” the Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Seychelles, Dina Amadou, stated.
The Vice President and Head of Ericsson South & East Africa, Todd Ashton, while commenting, stated that, “Partnering with Airtel Africa in modernizing their network and relocating to the data centre has supported them to meet the rapidly evolving demands of consumers and keep them prepared for the deployment of innovative services around VoLTE and 5G.
“We have a long-standing partnership with Airtel Africa that led to multiple achievements in growing and developing the telecommunications network in the region, setting #AfricaInMotion, and we are committed to providing solutions across the region to meet today’s and tomorrow’s communication service needs. With 5G, the opportunities are endless from manufacturing to e-health solutions, only the sky is the limit.”
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka