T-Mobile has selected Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus to power its common telco cloud across its core and edge operations.
The telco giant said the deal will help it automate operations, support cloud native 5G applications ,and unlock new opportunities in edge computing, private networks, and IoT.
Meanwhile, the firm hopes to reduce costs and accelerate time-to-market for new applications and services.
"T-Mobile’s multipurpose cloud will bridge us from a traditional telco to a dynamic techco, exposing previously untapped innovation while enhancing operational efficiencies," said Lori Ames, senior vice president, cloud, IP & transport technology at T-Mobile.
"By partnering with best-in-class providers like Red Hat to leverage cloud native agility, automation and AI-driven insights, we’re redefining connectivity for the digital economy by meeting our customers where they need us."
The common telco cloud can help keep costs low by consolidating and standardizing infrastructure across various workloads, including end-to-end automation for greater operational efficiency.
Standardized training, support, compliance, and security capabilities across all stacks should help reduce risk and complexity in managing diverse telecom workloads, the firm said.
T-Mobile also expects to accelerate the roll-out of new services, thanks to simple certification, pre-validation, and lifecycle management processes including integration of VNFs, CNFs, and IT applications.
It also promises greater scalability and flexibility in hybrid multi-cloud environments to enable more reliable, carrier-grade services to meet telecommunication service provider’s needs.
"As telecommunications service providers face increasing demands for cloud flexibility, consistency and cost optimization, Red Hat OpenShift provides a standardized, scalable foundation to drive efficiency and innovation," said Fran Heeran, vice president, global telecommunications, at Red Hat.
"By collaborating with T-Mobile to power its common telco cloud, Red Hat will help unlock new opportunities for streamlined operations, faster service delivery and a simplified approach to managing diverse workloads across the core network."
T-Mobile eyes closer open source ties
Notably, T-Mobile said the deal will make it easier for telecommunications service providers to interact with a broader array of open source technologies and communities, including a direct pipeline for requests and feedback upstream.
All told, this means telcos will have access to a unified, standards-based environment that will deliver more efficient development, testing, and deployment while simplifying workload integration and speeding up certification processes.
Cloud computing investment in the telecoms sector has increased significantly in recent years, with providers seeking to improve agility and flexibility while delivering cost efficient services.
Recent analysis from Juniper Research, for example, predicted telcos will spend upwards of $65 billion on cloud services by 2028.
This investment comes at a critical time, with the expansion of 5G networks and the arrival of cloud native 6G networks expected to rapidly increase the volume of cellular data.
The study noted that more than half of cellular data will be serviced by cloud-based systems by the end of the decade.
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