Panasonic Avionics headquarters in Lake Forest, California.
Ericsson and Panasonic Avionics have announced that Ericsson’s “Core Network as a Service” solution is now live, supporting inflight connectivity services across multiple markets served by Panasonic.
Ericsson’s Core Network as a Service solution will help Panasonic and its subsidiary AeroMobile provide data, voice and messaging services to the millions of airline passengers that use these services in flight.
The collaboration between Ericsson, Panasonic and AeroMobile, Panasonic’s service provider and GSMA telecoms operator, started in 2016 and is now fully operational and delivers services to Panasonic customers worldwide.
Panasonic says as part of its initiative to bring a superior connected experience onboard commercial aircraft, Panasonic and Ericsson have seamlessly migrated the existing service operating across a global fleet of aircraft onto the Core Network, delivered as a service, while maintaining network performance and customer experience.
Every passenger whose mobile service provider has a roaming agreement with AeroMobile can use the service, which is supported by more than 350 mobile operators across the globe and delivered inflight on board more than 20 of Panasonic’s global commercial airline customers.
Since launching the service, over 40 million passengers have successfully connected to the AeroMobile network inflight.
The geo-redundant solution is delivered through Ericsson’s Core Network as a Service and includes virtualised network applications such as packet core, unified data management, mediation, and mobile switching delivered on the Ericsson NFV Infrastructure.
The Core Network solution is part of Ericsson’s as a service offering to service providers globally and is able to support 5G services to the passenger and airline.
Kevin Rogers, CEO of AeroMobile, said: “Our partnership with Ericsson, and the technology provided, will allow us to better serve the communications needs of our passenger and airline customers. Furthermore, the solution enables us to grow our footprint and expand into other services offering a richer experience for the passenger and operational efficiencies for our airline customers. We are looking forward to continuing our exciting collaboration with Ericsson”.
Marielle Lindgren, Head of Ericsson UK and Ireland, said: “Panasonic Avionics is the first customer on Ericsson’s newly-introduced Core Network as a Service solution, which aims to bring Ericsson’s leadership and expertise to a wide range of service providers. We’re proud to have initially been chosen as Panasonic Avionics’ supplier for a 5G ready core network and pleased that the project is now live.”
The two companies will explore other services to address further market segments and opportunities, while ensuring service continuity and the constant evolution of the live network, including exploring new 5G use cases.
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