MTN Uganda and several members of the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) have signed an agreement that will advance network automation using TIP’s Disaggregated Cell Site Gateway (DCSG). This first network deployment in Africa will see MTN evolve its transport network in order to support the transition to 5G.
DCSGs connect mobile sites and enterprises with the core network. DCSG at these cell sites will see the hardware and software de-coupled, allowing greater flexibility in upgrading software and configuration.
Typically, cell site hardware and software are aggregated, requiring wholesale replacement to upgrade the transport network. For the Uganda deployment, Aviat will oversee the deployment of this DCSG solution using Network Operating Software provided by Adva, running on Edgecore hardware.
DCSG was developed within TIP’s Open Optical and Packet Transport (OOPT) Project Group. The TIP DCSG solution uses open, standard-based, disaggregated network technologies to target several opportunities in operators’ IP aggregation networks. These include overall deployment cost reductions and the creation of a more diverse supply chain, as well as operational efficiencies from being able to use SDN technologies for network management automation.
