Ericsson has announced several new deals to develop 5G networks in Russia and Kazakhstan, two other contracts with Etisalat Misr in Egypt and the launch of a 5G network in Saudi Arabia. At Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, Ericsson said it has signed a total of 43 memorandums of understanding (MoU) and 12 commercial 5G deals, worldwide.
With Kazakhtelecom, Ericsson will develop 5G radio access technologies in Kazakhstan. Under the MoU, the 5G pilot program will take place in 2019–2021 and will test different 5G use cases in three test phase, including Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), enhanced mobile broadband and machine-to-machine communications. Ericsson will also give Kazakhtelecom recommendations on how best to migrate its network to 5G, in order to minimize costs.
With Russian service provider MTS, Ericsson signed a roadmap for 5G in Russia, for 2019-2022. The roadmap describes how the first segments of 5G networks will this year get developed and deployed, as parts of pilot zones and commercial clusters. The roadmap also outlines the deployment for the first pre-commercial 5G NR pilot and the launch of the first 5G FWA pilot in the country. Finally, the deal also covers the evolution of current 4G networks to high-speed gigabit LTE networks, as well as further development and launch of commercial solutions and products based on 5G technologies.
Ericsson noted that the two companies signed a 5G cooperation deal in December 2015 that hit all of its targets. They also agreed last year to establish a 5G research center.
With Etisalat Misr, Ericsson signed two new contracts. The first covers the expansion of current 4G capabilities in greater Cairo, including the deployment of 5G-ready Ericsson Radio System. The second extends a current managed services contract for a further five years.
Finally, Ericsson and Saudi Telecom Company (STC) signed a deal to launch a mid-band 5G network in Saudi Arabia. STC is deploying a 5G network using Ericsson commercial hardware and systems, including radio access network (RAN), packet core, transport, and Ericsson Network Manager. The network upgrade will operate on a 3.5 GHZ band.
