Belgacom Mobile Selects Siemens for Network Evolution

Proximus (Belgacom Mobile), Belgium's largest mobile operator, selected Siemens Communications for the evolution of its core network under a four-year upgrade plan. Financial terms were not disclosed.


In a first step, Proximus will introduce the Siemens high-performance PowerMSC (Mobile Switching Center). This will enable Proximus to reduce the current number of network elements.


In a next step, Proximus will migrate its existing Home Location Register (HLR) base towards Siemens' next generation HLR innovation platform. The HLR base is the database that contains all the subscriber details, such as phone numbers, accompanying services and the current location. Currently, this database is switch-based. The new platform is server-based: updates or new service introductions can be carried out in as short as one night. Similarly, queries e.g. about the usage of foreign mobile networks, will only take a few seconds to be answered.


In the final implementation phase, Proximus will introduce Siemens' next generation, ATCA-based media gateway to complete the step-change to a full release 4 architecture. In this architecture, the existing PowerMSC will evolve to full fletched MSC Servers, centrally handling call control, whereas the actual traffic is handled decentralized by the state-of-the-art ATCA mobile media gateways.
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