London-based mobile network operator Three UK says it has selected Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to build its next generation cloud-native core network. In a release, the company claims this deployment will be the largest in Europe, more than tripling its current core capacity to 9 terabits per second.
The new cloud-native core network, powered by Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core solution and supported by Ericsson Cloud Native Infrastructure solution, will be hosted on Three UK’s nationwide distributed data center network. The company says this deployment will situate its core network closer to its customers, and provide lower latency for near real-time applications.
At the end of December 2024, Three UK served 10.5 million mobile subscribers from a network of 18,400 cell sites, according to Inside Towers Intelligence. Three UK says that data usage on its network has exploded in recent years surpassing 2 Tbps at the end of 2024. Achieving this level comes just over two years after reaching 1 Tbps, a milestone which took almost two decades to reach. The rapid increase has been driven by escalating video streaming such as Premier League games, online gaming and increased home broadband usage.
A recent study from Enders Analysis shows that Three UK continues to lead the way with more mobile data traffic than any other MNO in the U.K. According to Enders, Three UK’s customers were using an average of 31.5 GB per month throughout 2024, up 18 percent YoY and 2.4x the national average.
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