Deutsche Telecom, Ericsson and Google partner for 5G Edge calling

Deutsche Telecom, Ericsson and Google partner for 5G Edge calling

The three companies have reached a milestone in their joint development 5G Core VoIP project

Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson and Google Cloud have announced a significant milestone in their strategic partnership to bring cloud infrastructure closer to mobile devices at the network edge. This week they took a big step forward with the successful deployment of Ericsson 5G Core cloud native network functions (CNFs) on an on-premises implementation of Google Distributed Cloud Edge (GDC Edge).

A secure, cloud-native telco network

The three companies have been working together since July 2022 to develop an industry solution for a high-performance, scalable, and resilient cloud-native telco network, which also meets EU security and privacy requirements according to the GDPR. The partnership “combines Deutsche Telekom’s network leadership with Google Cloud’s extensive expertise in cloud-native network technology, data analytics and artificial intelligence to enable Deutsche Telekom to drive operational efficiencies and build enhanced customer experiences”, according to the companies.

In this latest test, the partners successfully completed a 5G core Standalone data call from setting up the connection and application on the infrastructure to call completion in a matter of minutes on GDC Edge infrastructure hosted at the Deutsche Telekom lab in Austria. Normally, infrastructure and network deployments can take up to several days or even weeks on legacy cloud infrastructure. The successful trial thus demonstrates “the advantages in speed, scale, flexibility, and reliability that cloud-native networks can provide telecommunication companies like Deutsche Telekom”, the announcement states.

Building a “telco as a platform”

This milestone proves that, by using Google’s GDC Edge, Deutsche Telekom is able to bring cloud infrastructure and services closer to where data is being generated and consumed. As part of this test, the partners also evaluated the advantage of GDC Edge in maintaining and operating cloud-based telecom platforms.

“Deutsche Telekom is building a telco as a platform as the foundation for customizable cloud services. Together with Google Cloud and Ericsson, we are co-innovating on an industry solution for scalable network operations,” said Armin Sumesgutner, SVP of Technology Delivery and CTO of Europe for Deutsche Telekom. “We will now continue our journey to prove out the resilience and agility benefits required to more rapidly innovate and launch new services and customer experiences”