Unitel S.A. (Angola) and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) have signed a three-year frame agreement for the supply of Ericsson Radio System solutions as well as core solutions and related services. Ericsson will deliver a powerful transformation to Unitel’s existing 2G/3G/4G Radio Access Network (RAN) and core infrastructure and prepare the service provider for future 5G services in Angola.
The Radio & 5G ready core expansions will enable Unitel to meet increasing data demands of customers in Angolan market. The agreement sees the expansion of the Ericsson’s Packet Core and User Data Consolidation network and readiness for 5G non-standalone services. Unitel’s Business Support Systems (BSS) will be upgraded and enhanced to enable catalog-driven charging across its services and prepare itself for the introduction of innovative Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) 5G products and services. Using these solutions, Unitel’s network performance will improve to meet growing end-user expectations.
Meanwhile, expansions on virtual Mobile Switching Centre (MSC) and Ericsson Media Gateway for Mobile Networks (M-MGw) are included for improving voice services, while, Ericsson Network Manager (ENM) will ensure better performance and faster time-to-market for new services. The agreement also includes Ericsson 5G RAN products and solutions, from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio, introduced and deployed in Unitel as soon as service is licensed in Angola.
Amílcar Safeca, Administrator and Chief Technical Officer at Unitel S.A. (Angola) says: “We are committed to providing the residents and businesses in Angola with the best telecommunication services. Our strategic goal is to stay at the forefront of customer experience and Ericsson is an excellent partner to address these requirements. This frame agreement will allow us to differentiate more our end-user offering and benefit from Ericsson’s latest products and solutions.”
Unitel will also benefit from more customer-centric business operations with Ericsson Digital BSS solutions, including core billing/charging and catalog driven charging, helping the service provider to improve customer experience and monetize new services.
Nora Wahby, Vice President and Head of Ericsson West Africa and Morocco says: “Africa is witnessing a digital transformation fueled by innovation of telecom services and solutions and the high demand for smart devices. This transformation requires networks that can provide superior performance to cater for the data explosion. Our collaboration with Unitel will pave the way to support and meet the ambitions of delivering best performing networks that can provide superior customer experience for Unitel Angola’s subscribers and this is part of our efforts to continue working with our partners to keep setting #AfricaInMotion.”
Ericsson and Unitel S.A. (Angola) have maintained a long-standing partnership, reaching important milestones like the implementation of LTE Advanced in 2014, which aimed at accelerating the country’s digitalisation.
