Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. (CHT) has selected Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to provide the 5G platform to support its future network. Taiwan’s largest telecom service provider will deploy a non-standalone (NSA) New Radio (NR) network on mid and high-frequency bands. It will use Ericsson Radio System base stations and Ericsson’s 5G Core, including 5G Evolved Packet Core, with Ericsson selected as the supplier for 5G Core.  

Building on a partnership that began with 4G, this new deal includes voice services through Ericsson’s Cloud VoLTE solutions, improving network efficiency and ensuring a flexible voice service experience. Ericsson will also provide the fronthaul and IP backhaul transport solution using Fronthaul 6000 and Router 6000 products to support C-RAN architecture – infrastructure that will help CHT with a smooth evolution to 5G.

Max Chen, President of the Mobile Business Group, Chunghwa Telecom, says: "In the process of upgrading to 5G networks, we need to shorten the time it takes to launch new features. Ericsson's 5G core solution enables our 4G core to flexibly evolve into a shared 4G/5G network. Meanwhile, Ericsson’s Cloud VoLTE solution will allow our customers to enjoy a more convenient and higher quality 4G voice service today as well as 5G voice services in the future."

Chafic Nassif, President of Ericsson Taiwan says: "Our enhanced 5G platform perfectly suits CHT’s needs to quickly launch new services to the market. This cooperation will serve to not only provide Taiwanese consumers and enterprises with the highest quality communication services but also accelerate the overall progress of 5G development in Taiwan.”

Advanced functionality to optimize user experience

Ericsson's 5G platform for CHT will include Ericsson Radio System base stations that will operate on 3.5GHz for the mid-band and 28GHz for the high band. The 5G solution will also include active antenna products while supporting beam-forming functions that reduce wireless signal interference and improve 5G speed. In addition, CHT will benefit from increased system capacity and improved 5G user experience through 4G/5G dual connectivity and LTE-NR DL data aggregation functions. The solution will also enable more effective management of data traffic, simplified operations, and innovative applications, such as network slicing and edge computing.

With Ericsson Spectrum Sharing solution, Chunghwa Telecom can make full use of spectrum resources to accelerate 5G network coverage and promote the smooth, efficient, and flexible transition of the network to 5G.

Ericsson's 5G core solution will support both 4G and 5G core networks to smoothly connect CHT's previous services to 5G. Other advanced functionality includes automated capacity management and a high-performance user plane control that can meet the needs of 5G usage while providing an open application program interface. Ericsson Orchestrator will also allow for more efficient management of core, access and transport networks, as well as the automatic management of the network slicing function ­­­– enabling users to reduce the time to launch 5G services from weeks to hours.

Chunghwa Telecom has been working with Ericsson on 5G technology since 2017. The two companies are jointly developing 5G enterprise applications and support government policies to promote industrial transformation.