Switzerland's mobile and fixed operator, Swisscom has entered into a five-year contract with Ericsson for mobile-network modernization and upgrade to LTE.

Ericsson will modernize 6,000 mobile sites with its RBS 6000 multi-standard radio base stations and optimize all of Swisscom's networks.

According to Ericsson, by making it the sole supplier for the modernization of its existing mobile-core and radio network, and the introduction of LTE, Swisscom extends its existing partnership, in which Ericsson has been the sole 2G, 3G radio and main mobile core supplier.

Under the five-year contract, Ericsson will deliver core network, multi-standard radio base stations for 2G, 3G and 4G, as well as related installation services for the swap of the existing infrastructure. This includes software, hardware and the introduction of small cells, mostly in traffic-dense areas. With this deployment Swisscom will have GSM, WCDMA and LTE access networks. A key component in the core network is therefore Ericsson's SGSN-MME node, which supports all three access technologies.The rollout will start in January 2012 and all mobile sites will be modernized by mid 2014.