Telefónica O2: One million customers in the cloud core network

Telefonica Deutschland is making progress with the migration of its core network to the cloud. Since the launch of the "5G Cloud Core" in May this year, one million customers have now joined the cloud core network, the network operator explained on Thursday. Telefónica is the first network operator with a traditional mobile network to outsource its core network to the cloud.

In May, Telefónica began outsourcing its core network to Amazon's AWS cloud. In addition to AWS, the network operator is also working with Finnish supplier Nokia. The data from the various antenna locations converge in the core network, where they are processed with central functions such as assignment to customer accounts, call routing and billing.

AWS instead of on-premise

Traditionally, this takes place on hardware located in the company's own data centers. Telefónica's old core network is also already in the cloud, but it is the company's own: with cloud software and hardware from Ericsson in its own data centers. In the course of increasing virtualization, such core functions can also be implemented on the hardware of hyperscalers such as AWS.

This is still uncharted territory for network operators. "As no other existing telecommunications provider in the world has taken this step so far, our teams from AWS, Nokia and o2 Telefónica have done some pioneering technological work, which we are very proud of," says Bas Hendrikx, who is responsible for the cloud core network at Telefónica Germany and has the somewhat unwieldy title of "Head of Digital Cloud Networks & Orchestration".

Telefónica expects a number of advantages from this. On the one hand, updates can be rolled out faster and without interruption. The network operator can also seamlessly switch to other cloud regions in the event of disruptions. In addition, the core network in the cloud is flexibly scalable – and also secure, as Telefónica emphasizes. Last but not least, a network operator can also save costs.

Software makes it cheaper

"We assume that the use of the public cloud will be cheaper overall," explains Hendrikx to heise online. On the one hand, Telefónica would not have to invest as much in its own computing capacities. "In addition, the core network functions, which are created as software, can be updated faster and more cost-effectively."

Customers don't notice any of this. "There are no displays in the smartphone for this," explains Hendrikx. "As a rule, customers don't notice it either." This is because the quality of service should be the same as in the conventional network: "Right from the start, our aim was to put the new cloud-based core network into operation with the same quality and all functions as our conventional core."

Whether a customer is routed via the cloud or the traditional core network depends on various factors. "These include the respective region, network coverage and end device characteristics," says Hendrikx. The network regulates this automatically. Initially, these are customers who are logged into the 5G standalone network. "After we have expanded the functions to 5G non-standalone and 4G in the course of the project, we can now also allow customers in these mobile communications standards to use the new core."

Telefónica will also continue to expand its cloud core network next year. "We want to further scale the use of the cloud in our network area in 2025," says Hendrikx. "We see the benefits for our network architecture and our customers. We are therefore planning the further development of cloud-based core network functions with AWS and Nokia as well as with Ericsson."

(vbr)