Wipro, one of the leading software exporters and Telefónica today announced an agreement to initiate the transformational journey towards Network Operations by introducing Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment and Continuous Testing (CI/CD/CT) in Telefonica’s German and Brazilian markets, with the perspective of expansion to Spain and UK.

With 5G, born cloud native and based on containers and microservices, suppliers have endorsed a CI/CD/CT approach in their industrialization process dramatically increasing the number of product releases and the volume of testing. Operators need to be radically agile to face this new situation without compromising the right level of quality, performance, scalability and time to market.

Telefonica plans to leverage a common CI/CD/CT framework for all the markets which can be implemented locally to meet specific local integration needs, with the support of Wipro. This will ease collaboration among Telefonica OpCos allowing to share design, parametrization/configuration, test plans and results.

The solution, developed by Wipro, will be built over opensource tools and open to evolution, allowing rapid adaptation to future technological changes. Common repository test tools will also be used, with the possibility of future integration with the CI/CD/CT pipeline.

Wipro will work with Telefonica to automate the associated Network Operations and, thus, enable the transition to the Telco Cloud and the adoption of the virtualized Network Functions. This framework will allow for industrialization of the process, coping with the increased volume and complexity of the Network Functions while adopting an Agile working methodology in parallel to the industry.

Telefonica Germany considers CI/CD/CT to be an important tool when implementing automation strategy. "Agile working methods and delivery mechanisms will play an important role in the future to be a successful player in the market. With Wipro, we have chosen a service provider that can build converged solutions for us to optimally serve all technology segments. Fast, reliable and standardized automation of all tasks from build to production will improve our time to market as well as service quality," said Thomas Braun, Manager Test Environments & Integration, Telefónica Germany.

Telefonica Brazil considers the initiative fundamental in its cloudification and network transformation strategy. "Automation of testing and continuous delivery will be one of the pillars to address the new construction model for 5G networks and even for traditional fixed and mobile networks," said Elmo Rocha, Director of Planning and Technology, VIVO.

Shares of the company declined Rs 0.05, or 0.01%, to trade at  Rs 643.75.  The total volume of shares traded  was 94,560 at the BSE (11.18 a.m., Tuesday).