NTT upgrades Smartfren telco network in Indonesia

An end-to-end network consolidation project for Smartfren Telecom has been been completed, with NTT upgrading the Jakarta-based telco’s legacy network infrastructure that was straining to meet the demands for ultra-low latency connections and needed network solutions that scale with bandwidth demands and improve time-to-market.

To address these issues, NTT conducted a thorough assessment before integrating a software-defined network (SDN) optimised routing platform from Cisco ASR 9000 series and F5 Intelligent DNS. 

Cisco ASR 9000 series is designed to help service providers to be 5G ready and distribute 5G services and applications at the edge. F5 Intelligent DNS scale reference architecture complements by providing a strong DNS foundation to respond faster and provide hyperscale on demand. It considers a variety of network conditions and distributes requests for optimal application and network performance.

From provision to deployment and integration, NTT managed the full lifecycle of the project and provided post-implementation support. Upon completion, the Managed Services team then facilitated a smooth transition to take over system operations and maintenance. 

The successful implementation provided Smartfren with the capacity to scale and built a roadmap to future-proof its business to cater to future demands. The flexible consumption model also helps lower operational costs for Smartfren, while accelerating service agility.

“With the rising popularity of 4K video and 5G application requirement among enterprise customers coming up, we recognise the need to retool our network infrastructure with a flexible, secured and cost-efficient solution that can scale with increased demand,” said Puneet Garg, CTO Enterprise at Smartfren. 

“NTT understood our needs as an ICT service provider for enterprises in Indonesia and recommended the best solution to address them, while laying the foundation for us to constantly deliver better connectivity to our customers especially catering to the WFH (work-from-home) workforce,” the CTO said.

Hendra Lesmana, CEO of NTT Indonesia Solutions, said driving business agility with intelligent networking helps to ensure NTT clients to are well poised to capitalise on future opportunities.