TIM to evaluate ADTRAN’s SDN/NFV technologies

TIM Italy and technologyTIM, a telecom operator in Italy, announced its agreement with ADTRAN to evaluate ADTRAN’s SDN/NFV technologies and platforms for network automation in the access network segment.

The strategy of TIM is to achieve the European Commission’s Gigabit Society goals.

As per the agreement, TIM will evaluate ADTRAN’s SD-Access solution within its analysis of the advantages and the flexibility offered by SDN architectures applied to its ultra-broadband fiber access network.

ADTRAN Mosaic SD-Access solution enables mobile service providers to accelerate their path to SD-Access architecture, allowing them to better compete with emerging OTT providers operating at web-scale.

TIM Group earlier said Capex (Capital expenditure) in the first nine months 2017 was 3,881 million euros, up 774 million euros, primarily driven by investment in Italy.

TIM Italy reported investments of 3,177 million euros, an increase of 779 million euros compared to the first half of 2016 — primarily due to innovative investments for infrastructure development (+386 million euros more than in the first nine months of 2016).

TIM Italy also focused on the acceleration in investments dedicated to the development of next generation networks and disbursements to renew the right of use of GSM frequencies (630 million euros).

“TIM is actively working on the evolution of the access network towards an open, easily upgradeable and programmable asset with greater operational efficiency, lower TCO and improved service automation,” said Andrea Calvi, head of network innovation in TIM.

TIM said its investments continued to fall in other areas, as a result of greater selectivity and attention paid to ensuring that capital allocation decisions are guided by strategic priorities and profitability.

TIM Group revenues in the first nine months of 2017 totalled 14,679 million euros, 5.3 percent higher than in the first nine months of 2016. The 740 million euro rise is attributable primarily to the Domestic Business Unit (276 million euros), and to the Brazil Business Unit (467 million euros, including a positive exchange effect of 353 million euros).

TIM reported EBITDA of 6,213 million euros (+5.7 percent) with an EBITDA margin of 42.3 percent. TIM’s EBIT was 2,834 million euros (+2.4 percent) with an EBIT margin of 19.3 percent.

“Operators in highly competitive environments are challenged to extend Gigabit services due to the time and cost that can be associated with traditional optical access technologies,” said Ronan Kelly, CTO EMEA and APAC, ADTRAN.

“With SDN and NFV innovation, operators like TIM can significantly accelerate Gigabit Society goals by launching flexible Gigabit services that dramatically reduce subscriber disruption and time-to-market,” Ronan Kelly said.