Turkish operator Turkcell is seeking to transform its mobile and fixed network in the country by moving it to a cloud-based network function virtualization (NFV) platform.
Turkcell created its Unified Telco Cloud using Red Hat OpenStack Platform, supported by Red Hat Ceph Storage, said a press release from the American multinational software company that provides open-source software products to enterprises.
Using this new, centralized environment, Turkcell has cut launch time for new services by 66% and achieved a return on investment (ROI) 3 times faster, it said.
"Red Hat was a key partner in helping us achieve the high capacity to host millions of sub-services on our platform. The number of services we successfully virtualized in just the first year has set Turkcell as an example for the rest of the industry," said Elif Yenihan Kaya, Director, Network Capabilities, Turkcell.
"To continue growing its customer base of 46.7 million subscribers and expand globally, Turkcell sought to transform itself into a digital service provider. This evolution would help the company increase revenue by offering its services—such as BiP, the lifestyle and communication platform, and LifeBox, a personal cloud storage solution—through new digital channels. Additionally, Turkcell sought to prepare for the introduction of 5G wireless technology to the market," said the release.
To build its Unified Telco Cloud, Turkcell decided to migrate its network from a hardware-based system to a new, software- and cloud-based network functions virtualization infrastructure (NFVI), said the release. Turkcell expanded its existing relationship with Red Hat and worked with local Red Hat partners Affirmed Networks and Odine Solutions. With the virtualization of its core services, Turkcell’s solution can host virtualized network functions (VNFs) from both current and future vendors.
"With its new open source NFV platform, Turkcell can now create and launch new services 66% faster, helping it stay competitive in the global telco market," the release claimed.
Turkcell can also now offer a lower barrier to entry for software vendors by eliminating lock-in to a single provider. By decreasing its total cost of ownership (TCO) with these improvements, Turkcell achieved full ROI for the new platform in just 1 year and can now reach more customers at greater speed, it said.
