Altice France (SFR) has selected Finnish vendor Nokia for the deployment of its 5G Standalone (SA) core network. As part of its ongoing 5G deployment, SFR has signed a strategic partnership with Nokia for the supply and integration of its cloud-native 5G SA core. The 5G network core will be deployed in 2023 and will enable SFR to provide its enterprise and consumer customers with 5G advanced services. Under the terms of the deal, Nokia will also support SFR in the deployment of a 5G private wireless network, with the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) 5G end-to-end solution. This solution will enable customers wishing to work in a closed mobile environment and will operate independently of SFR’s mobile network. SFR will also offer a ‘hybrid private network’ mobile solution for customers wishing to benefit from both an isolated architecture and a virtual architecture for the needs of employees who would like to have national coverage. SFR currently provides 5G services in 6,600 municipalities across France.
In its press release, the operator also announced it plans to decommission its 2G and 3G networks by 2026 and 2028, respectively. ‘SFR has decided to reallocate the radio frequencies of its 2G and 3G networks to its 4G and 5G networks in the coming years. This operation will make it possible to provide more bandwidth and further improve responsiveness and voice quality thanks to the widespread use of VoLTE. These latest technologies are smarter and more secure and are also more efficient in terms of energy consumption … The 2G and 3G networks, launched respectively in 1991 and 2000, will therefore cease to be operated by SFR at the end of 2026 and 2028.’
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