Spark signs deal with Ericsson

Spark signs deal with Ericsson to deliver next-generation voice network technology

Spark New Zealand has announced today that Swedish company Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has been selected to help deliver its next-generation, fully digital voice network technology. The new solution, called IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) brings Spark’s core networks together into a modern and unified platform, providing more diversity, reliability and scalability.

Spark GM of Networks, Colin Brown, said IMS lays the foundation for growth in Voice over IP connections, driven particularly by the huge increase in fibre connections on Spark’s network and its wireless broadband products.

“Even though voice is one of the oldest telecommunications products there is, it’s still an important part of the mix of services we provide our customers. IMS gives us the ability to keep up with the huge demand for Voice over Fibre connections, as well as giving us the ability to support services in the future, such as Voice over LTE and Wi-Fi Calling.

“Ericsson helped us deliver New Zealand’s very first analogue mobile network in the 1980s, and we’re pleased to be working with them again – they are recognised globally as leaders in IMS and have a huge global research and development operation,” said Brown.

Emilio Romeo, CEO of Ericsson Australia & New Zealand, says; “We are pleased to extend our relationship with Spark and bring real value through the upgrade of Spark’s IP voice infrastructure.

“Implementation of our next generation core network technology with Ericsson virtualized IMS, Ericsson Cloud Execution Environment and Ericsson Cloud Manager, will provide Spark with the ability to efficiently introduce higher-quality voice and enriched communication services.

“The first service enabled will be Voice over Fibre and Voice over Wireless Broadband to deliver high quality voice with faster call-setup times. Other features the teams will be working to deliver for the future are, voice and video calling over LTE and Wi-Fi Calling, providing Spark customers with seamless voice services coverage when moving between different accesses,” Romeo says.

This is a multi-year programme and will see the new technology rolled out in a phased approach starting towards the end of next year.

ENDS

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