Airtel Nigeria is looking to upgrade its network and has entered into a three-year agreement with Ericsson to establish a foundation for virtualisation and network slicing, in order to support new enterprise services.

The contract agreement will pave the way for faster mobile broadband services and enhanced user experience, according to Airtel Nigeria.

Ericsson is delivering its Evolved Packet Core and other solutions which Airtel believes will provide increased reliability and scalability to its network, making it more flexible in meeting the growing demand for new services, including 4G Massive IoT and 5G.

In a statement, Airtel said the first phase of the project, which is the deployment of the Ericsson Evolved Packet Core, has been successful.

Awadhesh Kalia, Airtel Nigeria's Chief Technology Officer said the company's decision to carry out the upgrade is in line with its constant investment to ensure the delivery of a seamless broadband experience for customers.

"With the completion of the first phase of this project, we have already begun to see the transformation in our networks," Kalia said.

Jonathan Adams, Head of Ericsson South and East Africa, added, "Through this partnership, we will be deploying a comprehensive, reliable and future-proof suite of solutions that offers quicker time to market of new offerings and superior network performance."