Technology company Ericsson and telecommunications firm AT&T strengthen their 20-year partnership with yet another multi-year collaboration to expand 5G technology. AT&T aims to bring its 5G network to more consumers, businesses and first responders across key industries.

To achieve this, Ericsson will deploy the service provider’s recently acquired C-band spectrum and the launch of 5G Standalone (SA). AT&T’s network evolution is made possible in part by the Ericsson Radio System portfolio, which includes the Advanced Antenna System, Advanced RAN Coordination, and Carrier Aggregation technologies.

“This agreement reinforces our long-standing partnership of innovation and execution with AT&T,” said Niklas Heuveldop, president and Head of Ericsson North America. “5G networks will enable unprecedented, sustainable, and exponential growth, accelerating the digital transformation of industries and the public sector, for the benefit of consumers, enterprises, and society at large.”

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These deployments will support future network enhancements like Cloud RAN, which offers communications services providers increased flexibility, faster delivery of services, and greater scalability in networks. The solution supports a centralized RAN architecture enabled by Ericsson Fronthaul Gateway, a new technology that will enable more efficient transport of the fronthaul interface by converting it to packet (eCPRI).

“As we continue to expand our nationwide 5G network, Ericsson’s technology offerings and 5G expertise will assist with our network evolution,” said Scott Mair, president, AT&T Network Engineering and Operations. “This latest agreement provides the pathway for us to deploy Ericsson’s next-generation centralized RAN architecture, enabled by Fronthaul Gateway, with the ability to support future network enhancements, like the evolution to Cloud RAN.”

Ericsson Cloud RAN

Ericsson Cloud RAN is a cloud-native software solution handling compute functionality in the Radio Access Network (RAN). It complements the existing technologies in the RAN domain and allows for the adoption of leading practices to become a foundation for openness, enabling innovation in 5G.

Ericsson Cloud RAN will enable communications service providers to seamlessly evolve toward cloud-native technologies and open network architectures to meet the demand for more deployment flexibility.