Orange to deploy Ericsson’s slice orchestration on its Sylvan telco cloud platform to “automate the creation of advanced 5G services for enterprises and subscribers” across Europe
Ericsson has unveiled an upgraded OSS and BSS portfolio at DTW Ingite, designed to help operators improve both top and bottom lines by leveraging AI. There is a batch of some of the biggest announcements from Ericsson for some time with a lot amount of information to absorb in addition to which they are interlinked.
Let’s start with the updated/redesigned OSS/BSS portfolio itself, which Ericsson says has AI embedded across it to meet the needs of network operators that are adopting cloud native IT platforms – or planning to do so – including to automate network operations.
Ericsson says it has created more than 20 cloud-native AI and GenAI applications and “is investing to enable CSPs make a real impact with AI, intent and automation”. It describes the new Telco IT AI Engine as “the driving force behind Ericsson’s innovative OSS/BSS focused AI and Gen-AI applications”.
The updated OSS/BSS is part of a wider modernisation across five “critical, interlinked transformation areas” with “each area of evolution based on a clear rationale and vision for the value it generates”.
The first four are: Cloud and IT and the introduction of the Ericsson Intelligent IT Suite; monetisation using Ericsson Charging and Billing Evolved which is a cloud native platform for real-time charging and billing for multi-sided business models; service orchestration to deliver as fast as a telco can sell via the upgraded Ericsson Service Orchestration and Assurance with Agentic AI; and Core Commerce – streamlined selling with intelligent offer creation.
The heart of the strategy?
Arguably the heart of Ericsson’s strategy is the fifth “transformation area”: data and the new Telco DataOps Platform, an evolution from Ericsson Mediation. According to the vendor, the platform “enables unified data collection, processing, management, and governance, removing silos and complexity to make data more useful across the whole business, and fuel effective AI to run their business and operations more smoothly”.
Put another way, it enables operators’ to exploit the oceans of data they grapple with, such as the billions of call data records generated daily. This is a feat which has proved elusive when attempted by operators for multiple purposes over many years, so why will this attempt for AI be any different?
This is how the argument goes. First, because the apps are underpinned by Ericsson’s new Telco IT AI Engine, designed to “handle operations, orchestration and coordination of AI tasks and processes, security and ethical considerations, and managing data storage and retrieval efficiently,” which sounds like any operator’s wish list.
Bedrock of success?
Second, Ericsson’s “magic” ingredient is its re-engineered Mediation system that has APIs acting as a link to large language models (LLMs). This Telco DataOps Platform allows data to be handled in the way that suits each operator, according to the vendor. The first LLM link is to AWS’s Bedrock through which many foundational models can be accessed from companies such Anthropic, as well as AWS itself.
The idea is that once the data is tuned, subsequent functions can become intent-based, or as Ericsson puts it for the new, upgraded portfolio, apps run by agentic AI. And Ericsson has proof that it works: a “groundbreaking” project that demo’d the automation of 5G slicing carried out with Orange Belgium in November 2024.
The trial ran on the Ericsson Service Orchestration and Assurance, now upgraded to create and manage end-to-end 5G network slices spanning core and radio network domains in a multi-vendor, live network that includes RAN sharing. Clearly, Orange was convinced because the Orange group has announced it is deploying the Ericsson solution on its telco cloud platform to “automate the creation of advanced 5G services for enterprises and subscribers across its European affiliates” – also known as network slicing.
Orange partnership
In yet another press statement from Ericsson at DTW Ignite, Laurent Leboucher, Group CTO at Orange, stated, “This partnership with Ericsson is an important step in our journey towards cloud native and demand-centric, autonomous networks. Ericsson’s service orchestration solution will run above our horizontal Orange telco cloud infrastructure [Sylva, the open-source platform launched in 2022] and will enable our 5G networks to deliver differentiated experience to our business and retail customers.”
Third, Ericsson has relationships with more than 300 telcos of all stripes around the world, and is one of the three biggest suppliers of radio access networks.
The fourth proof is still outstanding: when operators see the desired impact on their top and bottom lines that this reimagined portfolio has been designed to deliver. There seems to be grounds for optimism. Patrick Kelly, Founder, Partner, and Principal Analyst at Appledore Research, says, “AI is changing the game, serving as a catalyst for transformation and innovation in OSS/BSS. Used well, it can enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and unlock new revenue streams.
“Ericsson’s continuous evolution of its portfolio with AI embedded throughout, along with its Telco Agentic AI Studio and Gen-AI Lab, demonstrates tangibly its strong readiness for collaboration with customers and industry partners alike to explore, innovate and industrialise AI for real impact in OSS/BSS.”
AWS part of the evolution
AWS collaborated with Ericsson on the OSS/BSS portfolio refresh, and the two have developed a Gen-AI Lab to help telcos adopt and realise the benefits of GenAI more quickly and easily. Or as Ericsson has it, to industrialise AI and innovation for OSS/BSS.
Grameenphone, part of the Telenor group and the largest mobile operator in Bangladesh has already used the Gen-AI Lab to create proof of concept for an agentic AI-powered tool to automate the migration from its legacy product catalogue to Ericsson Catalog Manager. Such a task would normally be a heavy duty manual undertaking.
Grameenphone has not yet reported as tangible outcome, but Solaiman Alam, Chief Product Officer at Grameenphone, said, “As we evolve in an increasingly digital world, I’m proud to highlight our collaboration with Ericsson and AWS. These partnerships have strong potential to enhance Grameenphone’s agility and open new avenues for sustainable growth.
Ericsson and AWS have also developed what they call the Telco Agentic AI Studio, a platform for developers wanting to create specific GenAI tools for telcos.
