Mobile operator Three UK has this morning announced that they’ve selected Ericsson to build their new cloud-native core network, which it claims will be the “largest in Europe” and one that will end up “more than tripling its core capacity” to 9Tbps (Terabits per second).
Data (mobile broadband) usage on Three UK’s network has grown significant in recent years, surpassing 2Tbps in December 2024 due to Premier League streaming on Amazon Prime and gaming updates. Customers of the service currently use an average of 31.5GB (GigaBytes) of data per month, up 18% year-on-year and “more than 2.5x the national average“.
Similarly, 5G usage has increased by 40% year-on-year, accounting for almost two fifths of data (39%) now used, while Video Gaming is said to be contributing to two-thirds of network peaks through the year (i.e. they mean the downloading of new game updates, rather than multiplayer traffic itself).
The new cloud-native core network, powered by Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core solution and supported by their Cloud Native Infrastructure solution, will thus aim to tackle this and sit on Three’s nationwide distributed data centre network. All of this will bring the operator’s core network closer to their customers, helping to support improved latency.
Iain Milligan, Chief Network Officer at Three UK, said:
“The last few years have seen a tsunami of data growth with traffic at peak times doubling in a little over two years driven by home broadband, streaming and gaming usage on our network grow faster than ever. Our new core network with Ericsson ensures we are able to support our customers’ data usage over the medium and long-term.”
Katherine Ainley, CEO of Ericsson UK & Ireland, said:
“We are incredibly proud to support Three UK in this next stage of their network transformation. Our longstanding partnership with Three is one built on trust, innovation, and a shared commitment to delivering exceptional mobile experiences. This project is a significant milestone in our collaboration, and we’re excited to help Three build a new Core network to meet the ever-growing data demands of their customers.”
The operator is also anticipating other benefits from the upgrade, such as enhanced stability with less downtime, greater network insights (helping to manage demand more effectively), the ability to upgrade infrastructure without having to drain traffic from a data centre (in-service software upgrades) and enhanced environmental performance from the use of more modern kit.
However, the announcement doesn’t say how long all of this will take to implement, and some readers might be wondering why Three UK are announcing this at a time when they’re supposed to be in the process of merging with Vodafone. But the fact is that their merger will take several years to fully realise, and Three UK can’t simply sit on their hands during that process, while demand continues to rise.
Speaking of the merger, it’s worth noting that Vodafone began rolling out a similar upgrade, also using Ericsson, back in 2020 (here). In that sense, there’s really no reason why the two operators can’t upgrade towards common ground.