Etisalat Misr has entered into a four-year contract with Ericsson to modernise and expand its core network and business support systems in Egypt. The mobile operator says will help it capitalise on the growth in 4G and pave the way for 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) in the North African country.

Hazem Metwally, Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Misr, says the partnership will play an important role in further developing the telco's services and cementing its place as one of Ericsson's largest customers for business support systems.

"We are pleased to be working with Ericsson again on a new project that addresses the evolving requirements of our organisation. It will double the capacity of our business support systems, which will allow us to provide more innovation to our customers, resulting in more traffic passing through our network. Ericsson is our trusted partner and has provided valuable support since we launched our services."

Etisalat Misr says the project will result in shorter time to market, commercial innovation, and improved user experience in the Egyptian market.

It adds that it expects that there will also be a positive impact on the capital and operational expenditure as subscribers will be able to enjoy flexible and personalised offerings, including cross-bundling and add-on services, as well as access to shared data plans and family offerings, which will include a single bill and consolidated spending view.

Amr Fathy, IT Vice President at Etisalat Misr emphasises the value of the agreement with Ericsson, specifically to help prepare for the introduction of IMS Voice over LTE, Voice over WiFi, Service Aware Policy Control and Unified Communications.

"We have enjoyed a long and successful partnership with Ericsson and this new cooperation will further bolster our services for our customers. As we work towards a smart future, we continue to innovate in ways that will empower our valued customers to meet all of their personal and business goals. Introducing Egypt to 4G and 5G is the future of technology and we look forward to being at the forefront of this introduction."

Rafiah Ibrahim, Head of Ericsson Region Middle East and Africa reiterates the potential gains for Etisalat Misr customers across Egypt.

"This agreement will enable Etisalat Misr to respond very quickly and in a flexible way with new offers to the ever increasing needs of their subscribers. The current massive diversity of applications, services and bundles, that both consumers and business customers wish to use on their multiple devices, requires more flexible provisioning and real-time charging based on advanced systems and solutions, such as our state-of-the-art Business Support System."

The partnership with Ericsson comes just a few days after Etisalat Misr's chief executive joined the top leadership of three other Egyptian telcos at the Giza Pyramids to mark the official handover of 4G licences.

Etisalat Misr paid US$535.5 million for its 4G license according to a previous announcement issued by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. The Ministry amassed more than US$1.1bn, as well as additional 10 billion Egyptian pounds (US$530 000 000) in 4G licence fees for the national fiscus from all four operators.