The announcement was made during the One Vision event organized by Telekom Albania, which was also attended by representatives from Ericsson and the Albanian government. Telekom Albania guided the guests through their 2020 transformation plans and showcased their significance to society, focusing on the best user experience in an increasingly data-hungry environment.

Emil Georgakiev, CEO of Telekom Albania, says: “Our strategic goal is to become the first choice for Albanian users when it comes to mobile communication services. This means ensuring a superior customer experience. We believe that a full network swap and modernization is the right way to start this journey. We believe in Ericsson’s abilities to deliver on time and with high quality and their best of breed approach allows us to capture opportunities today while at the same time preparing us for future ones as well.”

Ericsson will upgrade Telekom Albania’s network capabilities to Gigabit LTE class while also making the network 5G ready using the latest Ericsson Radio System equipment. A new virtualized core network based on the Ericsson Cloud Core, Ericsson Cloud VoLTE and system verified Network Function Virtual Infrastructure (NFVI) solutions will also enhance the customer experience.

Antonio Passarella, Head of Western Balkans, Ericsson, says: "Increasingly, service providers are turning to our state of the art 5G-ready portfolio to meet their transformation and modernization challenges. Our partnership with Telekom Albania will bring the best solutions on the market to life in their nationwide network. This will help to ensure that Telekom Albania delivers the best user experience possible to its customers in an increasingly demanding market.

Ralitsa Agayn Guri, Chief of Board of Directors at Telekom Albania, stated: “We are executing a fundamental technological, IT and operational transformation of Telekom Albania, supported by an overall commitment already exceeding EUR 170 million. The deal with Ericsson is central to this transformation. These investments shall serve to the benefit of our customers as well as to the continuing modernization and advancement of Albania.”

This progress was applauded by Albania’s Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, as an agreement that has an impact not only business wise but also on a larger scale: “Albanian users are ready for this new step. It is a fact that technology has had a crucial role during these years in our lives. We are eager to embrace the innovation, we welcome and appreciate it.”