A brief roundup of recent Ericsson news underlines the company’s diverse capabilities, encompassing cognitive software in the Middle East, uplink record-breaking in Brazil and, through an affiliate, network maintenance in Montenegro.
Saudi Arabia’s STC, described as a digital enabler in the region, has implemented an artificial intelligence (AI)-based cognitive software solution deployment from Ericsson.
The cognitive software leverages automation, big data scalability, speed, accuracy, and consistency for improved network optimisation. It analyses the 4G and 5G radio access network (RAN) proactively.
The solution also contributes to reducing carbon dioxide emissions from operational activities, for example, through the use of virtual drive-testing and remote automatic spectrum analysis. Additionally, STC Group has deployed 5G AI root-cause analysis capabilities to enable a better 5G experience for its subscribers.
This deployment enables STC Group to leverage the Ericsson Performance Optimisers portfolio for surgical optimisation analysis and recommendation. Ericsson Performance Optimisers use digital twin technology and advanced AI techniques like deep reinforcement learning and expert recommender systems to proactively provide mobile network optimisation recommendations and resolve specific network performance issues.
Ericsson has also been part of a partnership in Brazil that has claimed a first for Latin America, where Qualcomm Brasil, Claro, Embratel and Ericsson have achieved the highest peak uplink rate in Latin America on a commercial network, during a live demonstration in São Paulo.
The demonstration reached an uplink data speed of around 700 Mbps, using Claro's commercial spectrum enabled by Embratel, along with Ericsson equipment supporting new radio – dual connectivity (NR-DC) and carrier aggregation software resources in conjunction with a test smartphone device with the Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF system on Claro's network.
The uplink peak was achieved by combining mid-band and high-band data rates (millimetre waves) to fully leverage Claro's spectrum and improve user experience and enterprise application results. The demonstration used Ericsson's NR-DC feature with carrier aggregation of four uplink components (UL 4CC CA), in which four contiguous 100 MHz carriers are combined.
In addition to the uplink record, the real-time demonstration also achieved downlink results reaching 3.3 Gbps and an ultra-low latency of 8 milliseconds.
Finally, Ericsson Nikola Tesla, the Croatian affiliate of Ericsson, has signed a five-year network maintenance agreement worth $12.3 million with Montenegrin operator Crnogorski Telekom. The deal continues the two companies' successful long-term cooperation in the field of Crnogorski Telekom's mobile network maintenance, improvement and modernisation.
