As the Swiss regulator, ComCom, gears up to allocate 5G-suitable spectrum, national operator Swisscom is planning to deploy Gigabit LTE nationwide from next year and kick off 5G in 2020. The operator is working with Ericsson on a whole network transformation which, in addition to the radio upgrades, will involve virtualization, agile networking, low latency services and network slicing. The Swedish vendor will deploy a full-stack telco cloud to improve cost-effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility. Swisscom will also use Ericsson’s RAN, including macro and small cells, and its core, including full-stack NFV infrastructure, a virtualized EPC (evolved packet core), and virtualized IMS (IP multimedia subsystem). Ericsson will also support network optimization, planning, design and integration. Like many MNOs, Swisscom knows that…