Three UK Picks Ericsson to Build New Cloud Native Core Network
Mobile operator Three UK has this morning announced that they’ve selected Ericsson to build their new cloud-native core network, which it claims will be the “largest in Europe” and one that will end up “more than tripling its core capacity” to 9Tbps (Terabits per second).
Data (mobile broadband) usage on Three UK’s network has grown significant in recent years, surpassing 2Tbps in December 2024 due to Premier League streaming on Amazon Prime and gaming updates. Customers of the service currently use an average of 31.5GB (GigaBytes) of data per month, up 18% year-on-year and “more than 2.5x the national average“.
Similarly, 5G usage has increased by 40% year-on-year, accounting for almost two fifths of data (39%) now used, while Video Gaming is said to be contributing to two-thirds of network peaks through the year (i.e. they mean the downloading of new game updates, rather than multiplayer traffic itself).
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The new cloud-native core network, powered by Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core solution and supported by their Cloud Native Infrastructure solution, will thus aim to tackle this and sit on Three’s nationwide distributed data centre network. All of this will bring the operator’s core network closer to their customers, helping to support improved latency.
Iain Milligan, Chief Network Officer at Three UK, said:
“The last few years have seen a tsunami of data growth with traffic at peak times doubling in a little over two years driven by home broadband, streaming and gaming usage on our network grow faster than ever. Our new core network with Ericsson ensures we are able to support our customers’ data usage over the medium and long-term.”
Katherine Ainley, CEO of Ericsson UK & Ireland, said:
“We are incredibly proud to support Three UK in this next stage of their network transformation. Our longstanding partnership with Three is one built on trust, innovation, and a shared commitment to delivering exceptional mobile experiences. This project is a significant milestone in our collaboration, and we’re excited to help Three build a new Core network to meet the ever-growing data demands of their customers.”
The operator is also anticipating other benefits from the upgrade, such as enhanced stability with less downtime, greater network insights (helping to manage demand more effectively), the ability to upgrade infrastructure without having to drain traffic from a data centre (in-service software upgrades) and enhanced environmental performance from the use of more modern kit.
However, the announcement doesn’t say how long all of this will take to implement, and some readers might be wondering why Three UK are announcing this at a time when they’re supposed to be in the process of merging with Vodafone. But the fact is that their merger will take several years to fully realise, and Three UK can’t simply sit on their hands during that process, while demand continues to rise.
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Speaking of the merger, it’s worth noting that Vodafone began rolling out a similar upgrade, also using Ericsson, back in 2020 (here). In that sense, there’s really no reason why the two operators can’t upgrade towards common ground.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I thought Three had only recently invested in a cloud network powered by Nokia?
I was thinking exactly the same thing. Also Three about to be taken over by Vodafone. With my conspiracy hat on I’d say that since Ericsson is very close to Vodafone, going back to the TACS days, this is probably reall about migrating Three customers to something that can be more easily absorbed into the Borg.
They invested in Nokia for cloud since 2019. Though I remember reading somewhere that Nokia discontinued some of its 4G/5G equipment.
Three went out to tender in 2023 for this.
Nokia had since announced they were pulling out of supplying cloud infrastructure stcture, so I guess Ericsson was the only game in town for this.
Well at least it’s not Huawei! I’m obviously an old dinosaur, as I’ve never used more than 3GB of data in a month, because I’m on WiFi about 98% of the time. And I don’t really do mobile gaming or streaming. 9Tbps is quite something – it wasn’t so long ago that the LINX exchange first hit 1Tbps…
Don’t forget three have 5G broadband. I use about 2TB/month.
You use more than me, i have a 4Gb package from Smarty and if I use over 1GB a month I am amazed. Like you, my phone is normally connected to Wi-Fi, and I am not one for using it when walking around not looking where I am going.
I thought Ericsson had vanished
Nearly everyone spends most of their time on wi-fi.
I think it’s as others have said, fixed wireless access broadband that is seeing these crazy numbers of data consumption.
Shame they dont split out in their graphs.
It’s not a good use of precious wireless spectrum to be trying to supply homes with FWA 5G, but its seen a lot of growth in recent times.
Mark Smith, 5G broadband is a good choice for people who don’t have decent fixed line alternatives or people renting who don’t know if they are going to be in the same property in a few months because the landlord is upping the rent or kicking them out. I noticed a few of the larger villages in the Scottish Highlands also getting a 5G mast. It is a nice option for those folk on very poor ADSL speeds and a lot cheaper than Starlink.
5G broadband has been great for me. I’m in direct line of site to the mast. I’ve had speeds up to 110MB down 10MB up.
This is obviously planned in sync with Vodafone – even if they aren’t merged yet, they will be working behind the scenes to get everything aligned.
Will the “other benefits” include IPv6?
Lies, damned lies and statistics….
Firstly that graph starts in 2010 yet claims 19 years to the first TB (I’m assuming that before 2010 use was negligible and not shown) Secondly those figures are great in isolation (19 years first Tb, 2.5years second Tb) but don’t in any way reflect the one time change of use of mobiles. In that 19 years we went from what were mostly text based phones to the first iphone in 2007 (and Android at the same time) to streaming and effectively computers in your palm that we have today.
I highly doubt that we’ll see that shift of change again in the next 10 years (or possibly ever for mobiles). Certainly improved video quality will slowly increase things but we’re nearing the “don’t care” threshold with quality already (that is, it’s good enough that the vast majority don’t care to improve it).
I’m sure use and totals will increase further but I’d venture it will be nothing at all like the shift from the past 20 eyars.
More background here folks: https://www.lightreading.com/mobile-core/three-uk-picks-ericsson-drops-microsoft-and-nokia-in-core-shift