Telefonica Germany will shift one million 5G customers to Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud later this month, marking a significant move by the U.S. online retailer to break into the global telecoms market. This transition, involving the subsidiary of Spanish group Telefonica, is the first time an existing mobile operator has switched its core network to a public cloud, demonstrating a major step in the potential for cloud computing in the telecom industry.
The core network, consisting of high-performance servers in data centers, securely routes data and calls at high speeds, and using a public cloud could reduce costs and increase scale. AWS, alongside Nokia, will provide the infrastructure and software for the core network. Telefonica Germany’s decision to use AWS’s services indicates a shift towards public cloud adoption in telecom, which could pave the way for more operators to follow suit in the future.