Is there a recipe for 5G success?
At Ericsson we think so – and Danish communications service provider (CSP) TDC NET has perfected it, becoming ‘master chefs’ of the telecommunications sector. United by a desire to push the boundaries and unleash the power of 5G, TDC NET and Ericsson embarked on an ambitious end-to-end radio access network (RAN) swap project with our end-to-end solutions.
Highlights
In 2019, TDC NET changed vendors to Ericsson, swapping out their entire radio access network (RAN) and entering into a five-year managed services agreement. The success of this partnership saw TDC NET named the 2021 World Leader in Best Mobile Experiences. TDC NET’s 5G network was largely driven by the company’s longstanding commitment to technology leadership – igniting their desire to lead the technological revolution and offer the best network quality and customer experience.
With the project encompassing network operations, field services, customer experience management and network planning with end-to-end solutions, TDC NET’s customers are benefiting from the best-in-class proactive network performance – powered by Ericsson’s global scale, processes, artificial intelligence and automation solutions.
The collaboration with Ericsson Managed Services enables TDC NET to adopt a more data-driven, customer-centric operational approach, and continuously adapt to changing network usage and traffic patterns.
TDC NET also credits the success of the project to the right combination of highly skilled and highly experienced technicians seeing the project delivered right and on time.
TDC NET’s desire to be the digital backbone of Denmark has seen them become the first provider of 5G in Denmark.
Challenges
Being first in the Nordics with a nationwide roll out 5G services meant making many interventions into what is a very large, convergent network in a short space of time. At the same time, the industry was dealing with a changing world where customer expectations were evolving rapidly, even before the pandemic hit. And even with the challenge of bringing new functionalities into the network, TDC NET’s customers still expected perfect performance. With a massive swap out being akin to surgery, the project required the right people, processes, tools and partner.
To meet these requirements, TDC NET and Ericsson prepared their own ingredients and preparation list including:
Good quality ingredients: Leveraging state-of-the-art network assets – from both an equipment and spectrum perspective – and end-to-end solutions has been crucial to the project’s success. It utilized a well-balanced combination of highly tolerant equipment, mixed with low outages and managed services.
Bringing the right people to the kitchen: Skilled and highly experienced technicians
The perfect blend of partners: a strong partnership was also a core component
Unrelenting drive: Working together with a company that is also fueled by a competitive spirit and the burning vision to push the boundaries.
Solution
TDC NET identified six key steps that were crucial to creating 5G networks of the future.
- Setting themselves a challenge: TDC NET set themselves the clear goal of being the first 5G provider in Denmark – a goal that meant taking a big risk, as the team had to start preparations before the 5G spectrum auction. However, like all good chefs, they improvised by using ingredients they had on hand.
- Planning effectively: The team created a strong plan, allowing them to quickly adopt a problem-solving attitude when they were confronted with challenges.
- Putting the customer first: While there are many approaches you can take to defining the ‘best’ network, TDC NET’s main focus on providing the best customer experience through consistently good coverage.
- Utilizing Ericsson’s Managed Services: With Ericsson managing the entirety of TDC NET’s operations, it allows them to instead focus on increasing the value of the asset and moving into an optimization phase to make things even better.
- A focus on delivering and exceeding expectations: TDC NET and Ericsson are strongly focused on introducing the latest functionalities to the network and twisting and tweaking parameters.
- Taste testing: Step #5 pairs well with Ericsson’s focus on testing and evaluating the network regularly and verifying changes together with continuous evaluation of crowd source data, which is providing a lot of important insights about the network.
Key steps to make the dish
The 6 steps
1. Set yourself a challenge
2. Plan effectively
3. Put the customer first
4. Don't forget to stir and keep an eye on things as they're cooking
5. Keep the heat high and squeeze out every drop of opportunity
6. Taste testing
Henrik Hansen, Head of Mobile Radio Access Networks, TDC NET
Result
Today, TDC NET can report that its network is the most stable in 25 years, with fewer instances of unplanned downtime and customer disruptions, and a more stable overall user experience on the entire converged network. These performance milestones are the fruits of TDC NET’s commitment to a wider digitalization agenda, enabled by various inter- and cross-organizational teams working seamlessly together to deliver that transformation.
With their new network in place, the work doesn’t stop there for TDC NET. Not one to shy away from a challenge, TDC NET have their eyes firmly set on using 5G to transform Denmark.
