Vodafone Australia taps Cisco for 4G core

As Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) prepares its 4G long-term evolution (LTE) network for launch in June, Cisco has announced that its ASR 5500 will be used as the foundation of the telco's evolved packet core for the 4G network.

Cisco said that it will be working closely with Vodafone to ensure that the technology is implemented quickly and effectively. It has said that it will allow Vodafone to simplify capacity and manage traffic proactively.

Vodafone Australia's CTO Cliff Woo said that the platform will give Vodafone the scale to meet customers' data demands on 4G.

"We believe the implementation of Cisco's technology will provide VHA a Packet Core platform that we can scale to meet the data demands of our customers, now and in the future. Moreover, this platform gives us the opportunity to go beyond traditional mobile services and allows us to create more personalised services for customers," he said in a statement.

Vodafone is also deploying the Cisco 7613 mobile security gateway as part of its enhanced packet core, and Cisco said that the company is one of over 210 telcos globally using the Cisco ASR 5000 series.

The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Vodafone's 4G network on the 1800MHz spectrum band will be launched in June. The company opted to sit out the Digital Dividend auctions for the 700MHz and 2.5GHz spectrum as it holds 20MHz of spectrum in the 1800MHz band.