Network vendors Ericsson and Nokia have each secured fresh multi-year network agreements with Virgin Media O2 to support the telco’s mobile network transformation.

Ericsson noted that it will power the majority of Virgin Media O2’s RAN (Radio Access Network) over the next five years to support the carrier’s 5G Standalone expansion plans.

Nokia confirmed its role in Virgin Media O2’s RAN will be around 45 percent, with the remaining 55 percent going to Ericsson.

According to Virgin Media O2, the two vendors will help upgrade thousands of sites across the UK with next-generation radios and baseband equipment, significantly increasing capacity in busy areas while extending coverage and improving reliability, while also enhancing 4G performance for customers across the network.

The agreements are set to provide a boost for the carrier’s 5G Standalone offering, which covers 87 percent of the UK’s population.

It comes a few weeks after Virgin Media O2 said it would invest an additional £700 million ($936m) into its mobile network this year as part of its Mobile Transformation Plan.

These upgrades will see the telco maximize the 78.8 MHz of spectrum it acquired from Vodafone last year.

Virgin Media O2 noted that upgrades are already underway across the country, with a key focus on improving connectivity in high-demand locations such as transport hubs, stadiums, and city centers, plus along major roads and railways.

“Our Mobile Transformation Plan is delivering a step-change in network performance for our customers. These new long-term agreements with Ericsson and Nokia are a major milestone in that journey, helping us to significantly boost capacity, improve coverage, and enhance reliability right across the UK,” said Jeanie York, chief technology officer, Virgin Media O2.

“Demand for mobile data continues to grow at pace, and we are focused on investing in the infrastructure needed to deliver a faster, more resilient network that can keep up with our customers’ expectations. Last year, we added one Tbps of capacity to our network, and we plan to add more than double that this year as we build the UK’s most reliable mobile network.”

The telco will lean on Ericsson and Nokia to deploy more energy-efficient equipment and AI software, which it said will be used to optimize network performance in real time, while cutting energy consumption.

To support this, Ericsson is providing its Massive MIMO radios, including its AIR 3229 and the triple-band Radio 4486. Meanwhile, Nokia is supplying its AirScale RAN portfolio, which includes ultra-capacity modular baseband and energy-efficient, future-proofed Massive MIMO radios.

Both vendors have long-standing partnerships with Virgin Media O2. Ericsson stated that the partnership extension is worth several hundred million Euros.