Bahrain's Batelco Partners with Ericsson to Upgrade Nationwide 5G Radio and Core Network

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 2, Bahraini telecom operator Batelco and Swedish communications equipment manufacturer Ericsson expanded their cooperation during the Gateway Gulf 2026 forum held in Bahrain, launching an upgrade program covering the nationwide mobile broadband network. The cooperation involves 5G radio access network, cloud-native core network, AI radio scheduling, and cloud infrastructure transformation. Batelco will deploy Ericsson Massive MIMO radio equipment and dual-mode 5G core network solutions.

The radio access network upgrade will adopt Ericsson's next-generation Massive MIMO equipment, focusing on increasing radio network coverage and capacity, improving downlink data transmission capability, and reducing equipment footprint and operational energy consumption. Batelco plans to deploy the relevant equipment across the nationwide mobile network to optimize network performance in different radio coverage areas.

The core network upgrade will adopt Ericsson's cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core solution, involving updates to the packet core network and Unified Data Management system. Batelco will simultaneously adjust its core network architecture to support 5G standalone capabilities and subsequent 5G-Advanced feature deployment.

The cloud infrastructure transformation will migrate the existing Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVi) to the Ericsson Cloud Native Infrastructure Solution. This migration will be implemented together with the packet core network and Unified Data Management upgrades, covering the core network software runtime environment and infrastructure architecture.

The two parties will also test Ericsson's AI-native Scheduler for Link Adaptation radio scheduling technology. This technology adjusts the volume of data transmitted to terminals based on real-time radio channel conditions. The testing will focus on download efficiency, data throughput, and radio resource scheduling performance. Through this cooperation, Batelco will further validate the application of artificial intelligence in the radio access network and advance the construction of 5G-Advanced-related network capabilities.

This cooperation continues the network upgrade arrangement reached by both parties during the Gateway Gulf forum in 2025. The scope of the 2025 cooperation included radio access equipment, site power, environmental battery systems, and cloud infrastructure upgrades; 2026 adds explicit content on dual-mode 5G core network, Unified Data Management system, and AI radio scheduling testing.