Huawei announced that Telecom Argentina has launched a commercial all-cloud core network to support voice and data services for 2G/3G/4G mobile subscribers following the roll-out of ICT converged telecom services over a cloud infrastructure.
As the largest mobile operator in Argentina and Paraguay with more than 22 million mobile subscribers, Telecom Argentina developed an ICT network transformation strategy in 2015 designed to enhance network resource utilisation, reduce O&M costs and prepare for future demands. A core element of the strategy was to cloudify its networks utilising NFV.
In 2016, Telecom Argentina selected Huawei to construct an all-cloud core network as part of its network transformation strategy. Huawei stated that toll-out of the all-cloud core network started in March 2016 and in December Telecom Argentina was able to launch the network commercially and begin to transition from its traditional core network to the cloud core network. Currently, the network is running stably and reliably supporting voice and data services as traffic is migrated across to the new infrastructure.
The Huawei NFV-based CloudCore and CloudEdge co-deployment solution is designed to address Telecom Argentina’s business and technology requirements and transform its operations as follows:
1. Support traditional core network functions, such as IMS, MSS, EPC and DRA, on Huawei’s FusionServer and FusionSphere OpenStack, with resources dynamically shared by core network functions to improve resource utilisation.
2. Provide a distributed data centre (DC) network architecture, with cloud-based network functions on the control plane deployed in central DCs to enhance resource utilisation and functions on the media plane distributed in edge DCs for an improved user experience; Telecom Argentina can also deploy new all-cloud network functions over the unified, open architecture and gradually implement its full network cloud strategy.
3. O&M and big data analysis are integrated into the element management system (EMS) and NFV management and orchestration (MANO) to enhance intelligent network O&M via functions including KPIbased fault self-healing, cross-layer information collection and fault alarm management and help reduce O&M costs and improve O&M efficiency.
Earlier in February, Huawei and China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK) announced they had migrated CMHK services to an NFV-based commercial cloud core network. CMHK deployed a 3GPP system designed to support ervices of more than 20 network systems, including IMS, evolved packet core (EPC), Diameter routing agent/mobile number portability (DRA/MNP), HSS/HLR and mobile switching centre-server (MSC-S).
Huawei noted that as of January 2017 it had gained more than 170 contracts worldwide for NFV-based core networks, and claims to be a leading partner for global operators with regards to cloudified telecom network projects.
