The good news for Ericsson just keeps on coming, as it secured yet another contract, this time announcing that it has won a 10-year deal to manage and control Erillisverkot Finland’s ‘mission critical’ broadband network, and is expected to go live by June 2021.
Erillisverkot Group is the state-run body responsible for national communications networks for public authorities, emergency services and other critical services in Finland, to provide 5G next-generation core network products and solutions for its mission critical broadband network.
This comes after the news earlier this week that Ericsson and BT had signed a deal to use Ericsson's dual-mode 5G Core, and last week announced that it had walked away with 11.5% of a China Mobile for 230,000 5G base stations, worth approximately $600m.
Mission critical broadband
“We are working closely with Erillisverkot to ensure that is exactly what they will get from Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G core products and solutions to benefit critical services in Finland."
Arun Bansal, Ericsson.
Public safety agencies are turning to mobile solutions due to the capabilities provided by 4G and 5G development - such as security and speed when sharing of data, images and video.
And the next-generation Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) network initiative - called Virve 2.0 - will be based on commercial mobile 3GPP technology with enhancements to meet security, availability and resilience.
“Critical networks demand the very best standards of reliability, security and performance in the core,” explained Arun Bansal, President Europe and Latin America, Ericsson. “We are working closely with Erillisverkot to ensure that is exactly what they will get from Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G core products and solutions to benefit critical services in Finland. It's fantastic to see Finland take such bold steps to ensure the safety and support of the nation in such a forward-thinking way and I look forward to other countries following suit.”
The ten-year deal will include the implementation of Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core portfolio on a common cloud-native platform. This will deliver efficient total cost of ownership (TCO) and allow for the smooth introduction of 5G services. (Ericsson NFVI, Dynamic Orchestration and VoLTE solutions are also included, alongside related deployment, learning and support services.)
The Ericsson 5G Core solutions will enable Erillisverkot to manage and control its mission critical broadband network and safeguard information security and protect data integrity.
“The importance of Virve in critical operations cannot be overstated,” said Timo Lehtimäki, CEO, Erillisverkot. “The next generation of Virve will be one of the most important governmental ICT project in the coming years, and naturally, a high priority for us at Erillisverkot. Virve will facilitate seamless cooperation between the authorities and other public safety operators, crucial in daily life but also in crisis situations, such as the current coronavirus pandemic.”
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