Wedoany.com Report-Dec.11, Spirent Communications has been selected by Vodafone to deliver a fully automated testing platform for Vodafone's pan-European 5G Standalone core voice networks. The solution covers the complete lab-to-live lifecycle and supports integration of software releases from multiple network equipment vendors.

The platform enables Vodafone to test, validate and deploy new core network features significantly faster while maintaining service quality. Following implementation, the time required to roll out software upgrades across nearly 160 core voice nodes – supporting both traditional cellular voice and Voice over Wi-Fi services – has been reduced by 75%, from several months to just days.

The accelerated process positions Vodafone to manage the increasing frequency of software updates associated with cloud-native 5G Standalone architecture, which the company is progressively deploying across its European footprint. Automated testing also ensures rapid adaptation to evolving regulatory and compliance requirements.

Fragkiskos Vellis, Head of Core Enablers and Solutions at Vodafone, stated: "Cloud-based core 5G standalone networks are highly programmable and responsive engines driving new features like network slicing. However, these advancements introduce added complexity. Our new automated testing platform developed with Spirent allows us to check and deploy software at scale.

Dougie Rankin, Vice President of International Sales at Spirent, commented: "Vodafone recognized the importance of automated testing due to the speed and frequency at which modern disaggregated networks need to be updated. By working with Spirent to fully automate its testing capabilities, Vodafone is now able to accelerate delivery of new network products, version upgrades and features to its customers, while ensuring strict compliance and benefitting from efficiency gains.

The platform incorporates continuous integration and continuous deployment practices, allowing Vodafone to align with vendor release cycles that now occur every three months across all operating markets. By embedding uninterrupted automated regression and functional testing into daily operations, the system identifies issues early and minimises service disruption risk during live deployment.

The collaboration strengthens Vodafone's ability to maintain network resilience as 5G core infrastructure becomes increasingly software-defined and programmable. The solution is already operational and supporting ongoing software rollouts throughout Vodafone's European core voice network.