Affirmed Networks announced that Millicom, a provider of cable and mobile services in Latin America, has selected Affirmed Networks as the partner for its 5G-ready core network solution.
Millicom, which is operating under the TIGO brand, will deploy Affirmed’s virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) solution on VMware’s vCloud NFV platform, to serve as the foundation for the rollout of new mobile and Wi-Fi services.
Millicom’s strategic goal is to build and grow digital highways across Latin America, and to provide digital services to its Tigo customers, Xavier Rocoplan, EVP and group CTIO of Millicom, said.
Affirmed said its vEPC solution will allow Millicom to deliver differentiated services with better throughput and real-time network analytics to ensure better customer experience. The solution will allow the introduction of 5G services.
“The flexibility of Affirmed’s distributed architecture allows us to rapidly deploy a cutting-edge core network solution across all our markets in Central America, and will simplify the integration of our newly acquired mobile networks,” said Christophe Eyquem, CTIO for Central America.
Millicom will also deploy Affirmed’s virtualized Wi-Fi gateway to provide handoffs between Millicom’s macrocellular networks and Wi-Fi environments for better customer experience on the Tigo network.
Millicom has big plans for its telco cloud infrastructure that includes a software-defined, automated, NFV-based mobile core, and a converged, unified cloud architecture — through its partnership with Affirmed and VMware.
VMware’s vCloud platform will allow Millicom to modernize its network infrastructure to become 5G-ready and accelerate the time-to-market for new services. Millicom will have the ability to customize services across brands, simplify their operational model, and develop and launch new services using a distributed, mobile core platform based on control and user plane separation (CUPS).
