Telefónica’s Historic 5G Call on AWS Cloud & Future of Telecom
Munich, Germany, 5th March 2025 – Telefónica successfully made Europe’s first 5G Standalone (SA) call with the integration of on-premises and public cloud architecture. It was achieved by working with Nokia and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The purpose of this initiative is to apply the advantages of cloud technology to the future 5G Radio Access Networks (RAN). Telefónica hopes to increase the flexibility and efficiency of 5G networks by utilizing cloud services.
This partnership is based on an architecture that combines the AWS cloud with Nokia’s state-of-the-art 5G capabilities. This hybrid configuration allows Telefónica to run some important network functions both on-premises and on the cloud. The cloud infrastructure extends from AWS data centers to RAN sites over hundreds of kilometers. What this means for Telefónica is that they can easily deploy and manage network functions anywhere, either in the cloud or on premises at RAN sites.
The team is running Nokia’s RAN software on AWS’s cloud infrastructure. This involves utilizing Amazon EC2 instances based on Graviton, an AWS fast and efficient CPU. The cloud provides a number of benefits, such as low latency and high bandwidth, which are critical for real-time network functions.
It also enables Telefónica to streamline network management by employing standard automation tools across the entire network stack. This implies that they can update software more quickly and lower operational expenses.
Leaders in the industry are looking forward to this partnership. Telefónica’s José Luis Esplá states that this initiative is about making 5G networks more programmable and flexible. Through a collaboration with AWS and Nokia, they intend to prove a solution for a hybrid cloud infrastructure that can support the most important network workloads.
Amir Rao at AWS highlights the adaptability of AWS Cloud services under the challenging requirements of 5G RAN operations. This collaboration is said by him to have helped accelerate cloud transformation within telecoms. Says Aji Ed of Nokia, “This project is part of our drive to give flexibility and scalability to customers”.
This collaboration is a major milestone in 5G networks cloudification. Telefónica, AWS, and Nokia will continue collaborating to create a more centralized, flexible, and robust network. Their mission is to provide the best mobile user experiences for 5G and beyond.
Essentially, cloud technology will enable innovation and new business models in monetization. The project demonstrates the cloud infrastructure enabling all RAN operations starting from on-premises edge computing to regional data centers. With the evolution of technology, expect further creative applications of cloud networks in the telecommunications domain.
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