Ice Norway looks for 4G, 5G Network revolution with converged packet core | Computer Weekly

In a deployment that is being claimed as likely to result in a shake-up of its local 5G market, offering consumers new, reliable, high-speed connectivity, Ice Communications, Norway’s third-largest mobile operator, has announced a fully automated deployment of the Mavenir cloud-native Converged Packet Core, supporting 4G, 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) and 5G Standalone (SA) network capabilities.

Boasting a modern, robust and efficient mobile network, Ice is one of three mobile network operators in Norway, and claims to be the fastest growing operator in its domestic market since launch. The company has already acquired 757.000 customers across its portfolio, and continues to invest in network, new services and customer growth. 

The deployment of the cloud-native Converged Packet Core will run over Mavenir’s Cloud Automation for Telco framework in Ice private datacentres, and is seen as integral to the future of the company as it focuses on growth and investing in the future of Norway’s networks.

“New use cases enabled by 5G SA are going to play a strategic role in how we grow our business, and we are pleased to be working with Mavenir as our Converged Packet Core enabler, powering Ice to provide higher-quality services to our customers while tapping into new technologies and innovations,” said Ice Communications CEO Eivind Helgaker.

Mavenir’s fully containerised cloud-native Converged Packet Core is said to be designed to offer a flexible, cost-effective journey to 5G with multi-generational support for all generations of mobile network, to modernise existing mobile networks while evolving to 5G. The Converged Packet Core supports data, voice, messaging services and network slicing, and, said Mavenir, enables the network to be shared by multiple customers for a more efficient network resource utilisation and lower costs.

The Ice deployment includes the provision of Mavenir’s Cloud Automation for Telco framework for fully automated deployment of Cloud Platform and Network workloads, removing the need for error-prone manual processes and driving OPEX savings.

Besides initial deployment automation, the framework also orchestrates automatic configuration updates and in-service SW rolling upgrades, allowing improved service experience as well as smooth and faster roll-out of innovative services.

As a result of using its technology, Mavenir said Ice will now be able to deploy network functions in a matter of minutes instead of hours or days.

“Mavenir congratulates Ice in taking a forward-looking approach and looking at 5G SA to unleash the full potential of 5G – moving away from complex, closed, legacy network infrastructures,” said Mavenir president and CEO Pardeep Kohli.

“Mavenir is excited to be part of Ice’s network transformation journey and we look forward to bringing strong subscriber experiences to the Norwegian market.”