Ericsson announced a new multi-year agreement with U.S. carrier Verizon to provide its 5G solutions with the aim of accelerating the deployment of Verizon’s 5G network in the country.
Under the $8.3 billion deal, Verizon will deploy Ericsson’s 5G MIMO C-band, low-band and millimeter wave (mmWave) solutions to enhance and expand Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband coverage, network performance and user experience.
Ericsson said that its solutions, including massive MIMO, Ericsson Spectrum Sharing and Ericsson Cloud RAN, are part of the Ericsson Radio System portfolio to support 5G services.
“This is a significant strategic partnership for both companies and what we’re most excited about is bringing the benefits of 5G to U.S. consumers, enterprises and the public sector,” said Niklas Heuveldop, president and head of Ericsson North America. “We’re looking forward to working with Verizon to leverage solutions like Cloud RAN and our Street Macro, adding depth and versatility to 5G network rollouts across the U.S.”
“With this new agreement, we will be able to continue driving innovation and widespread adoption of 5G,” said Kyle Malady, CTO at Verizon.
In 2020, Verizon was the first carrier to receive a commercial 5G mmWave Street Macro base station from Ericsson’s U.S. smart factory in Lewisville, Texas.
Verizon’s 5G network network architecture is built on a cloud-native containerized architecture and uses Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology, which allows 5G service to run simultaneously with 4G LTE on multiple spectrum bands.
The carrier’s 5G network currency reaches 230 million people in 2,700 cities across the U.S.
Earlier this week, Verizon Business announced it had expanded its fixed-wireless internet offering, 5G Business Internet, to a total of 42 U.S. cities, a rapid expansion from the previous total of 24 announced in April. The offering, available in parts of these cities, is supported by the carrier’s 5G mmWave network, called 5G Ultra Wideband, and provides businesses with an alternative to cable internet.
Expanded 5G Business Internet availability announced today includes parts of Ann Arbor, MI; Akron, OH; Fresno, CA; Spokane, WA; Columbia, SC; Milwaukee, WI; Tampa, FL; St. Petersburg, FL; Memphis, TN; San Antonio, TX; Columbus, OH; Raleigh, NC; Durham, NC; Greensboro, NC; Seattle, WA; Tucson, AZ; Des Moines, IA; and New Orleans, LA.
Previously announced cities include Anaheim, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City (MO) and Las Vegas.
5G Business Internet complements Verizon Business’ portfolio of solutions including 5G mobility and 5G Edge mobile-edge computing (MEC), OneTalk voice communications, BlueJeans by Verizon video-collaboration platform, IoT, advanced security solutions, managed network-as-a-service (NaaS) and support offerings, SDN, and more.
