Angolan Mobile operator Unitel S.A. has signed a three year network expansion deal with Ericsson for the supply of Ericsson Radio System solutions to prepare the service provider for future 5G services in the country.
According to a statement issued, the partnership will see Ericsson transform Unitel’s existing 2G/3G/4G Radio Access Network (RAN) and core infrastructure that will enable the mobile operator to meet increasing data demands in Angola through the Radio and 5G ready core expansions provided by Ericsson.
Unitel will also get an upgrade of its Business Support Systems (BSS) that will be 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.
Commenting on the partnership, Amílcar Safeca, Administrator and Chief Technical Officer at Unitel S.A. (Angola) said, “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.”
To improve Unitel’s voice service, Ericsson will conduct expansions on the virtual Mobile Switching Centre (MSC) and Ericsson Media Gateway for Mobile Networks (M-MGw) and to ensure better performance and faster time-to-market for new services, the company will deploy its Ericsson Network Manager (ENM), said the statement.
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.
Also commenting, Vice President and Head of Ericsson West Africa and Morocco Nora Wahby, said, “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.”
By using Ericson’s solutions, Unitel’s network performance will improve to meet growing end-user expectations, the statement said.
