Telecommunications group MTN South Africa has successfully modernised its core network with Ericsson, achieving a number of firsts.

The modernisation brings a range of benefits to South Africa’s mobile infrastructure including reduced latency, enhanced data throughput and strengthened overall user experience, providing a more reliable and more seamless connectivity in the country.

This is in line with a core network modernisation agreement signed under MTN Group’s ‘MTN Unified Cloud Acceleration’ principles and objectives.

As part of the modernisation, MTN South Africa deployed cloud-native Packet Core and user management functions from the dual-mode 5G Core solution on Ericsson’s Cloud Native Infrastructure Solution in an expedited timeframe in the first half of this year.

In addition to the rollout of the new cloud-native functions, MTN South Africa and Ericsson also upgraded a range of other functions that will continue to be hosted on virtualised infrastructure powered by Ericsson NFVI.

The modernisation project has delivered significant early achievements.

MTN and Ericsson achieved a world-first by completing the first In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) of an Ericsson Packet Core Gateway (PCG) node with a collocated Packet Core Firewall. It was also the first Ericsson PCG ISSU in the African market.

This upgrade took place seamlessly, with no interruption to 2.52-million active user sessions and 40 Gb/s of data flowing through the network, MTN South Africa said in a statement.

This initial deployment has been expanded, with the addition of Ericsson’s cloud-native Cloud Core Policy Controller (CCPC) on its network, further strengthening the partners’ commitment to enabling digital transformation and automation in South Africa and across the continent.

This cloud-native evolution empowers MTN South Africa to transform its legacy policy control systems, driving enhanced flexibility, scalability and operational efficiency.

The CCPC, in its first configuration as a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) in Africa, enables MTN South Africa to implement real-time dynamic policies for 5G non-standalone.

Further, the CCPC supports the Policy Control Function for 5G function, ensuring MTN South Africa's readiness for the introduction of the 5G standalone core.

MTN South Africa also reached a key milestone in its automation journey by successfully executing Container-as-a-Service Rolling Upgrade on the Cloud Container Distribution, which was upgraded seamlessly with zero disruption while CCPC was handling about two-million active sessions.

The achievement demonstrates the robustness of MTN South Africa’s cloud-native infrastructure and aligns with industry best-practices for zero-downtime deployments.

“Building on our shared achievements with Ericsson over a period spanning more than 30 years, the core network modernisation and expansion mark an important step in our ongoing journey to build a modern, future-ready network for South Africa,” said MTN network services engineering and L2 support GM Solomzi Mnyaka.

“As we continue to evolve and digitise our operations, having the right technology foundation is critical,” he said, noting that the implementation of Ericsson’s cloud-native CCPC and PCG as part of the dual-mode 5G Core solution enables the company to respond more quickly to customer demands, launch new services with agility and simplify its internal processes through automation.

“This partnership reflects our focus on driving innovation while maintaining high standards of reliability and performance for our subscribers.”

“With the successful implementation of a massive core network transformation, achieved in record time, and the deployment of our dual-mode 5G Core which includes cloud-native CCPC and 5G Standalone-ready PCG on MTN South Africa’s live network, we are supporting its shift toward a fully cloud-native core that is built for scale, resilience and service agility,” added Ericsson South Africa head Sandile Dhlomo.

“The solution enhances the operator’s session, mobility management and policy control capabilities while laying the groundwork for future 5G Standalone. Together with MTN, we are enabling a more flexible and automated policy framework that supports monetisation, network evolution and enriched user experiences across South Africa.”

Ericsson’s longstanding partnership with MTN, dating back to the early 1990s, has been built on ongoing innovation and mutual support.

The relationship continues to grow as MTN South Africa is now among Ericsson’s first customers to deploy CCPC as a PCRF, further strengthening their collaboration.

This also aligns with Ericsson’s #AfricaInMotion vision to accelerate inclusive, sustainable connectivity across the continent.