Vodafone Spain has chosen Ericsson to support the carrier's 5G Standalone (5G SA) deployment in Spain.

The four-year agreement will see Ericsson provide its dual-mode 5G Core technology to the Spanish telco.

Vodafone said the partnership will support its aim of deploying 5G technology to reach 90 percent of the population.

5G SA is not reliant on older mobile generations and solely uses a 5G core network, whereas 5G Non-Standalone (5G NSA) is attached to a 4G core.

With the use of 5G SA, mobile operators are able to deploy network slices, improve latency, and drive advanced Edge computing.

Last year, Vodafone Spain deployed a Private 5G SA network at a Ford production plant in Valencia to optimize its production processes at its Almussafes factory, as well as those of its suppliers.

The operator previously launched 5G SA in the UK, doing so back in 2023.

More carriers are deploying 5G SA services, however, the gap between European telcos and other markets is vast.

A recent Ookla whitepaper highlighted how big the gap has become with regard to the rollout of 5G Standalone (5G SA) network deployments.

As of Q4 2024, China has 5G SA availability in 80 percent of the country, followed by 52 percent in India and 24 percent in the US. Meanwhile, 5G SA is only available to two percent of Europe's population.

Last week, Vodafone Spain said it was aiming to deploy more than 40 Edge data centers this year. At present, the carrier has a total of 60 Edge data centers across Spain, and aims to reach 100 facilities by the end of the year.

Vodafone sold its Spanish unit to UK telecom investment firm Zegona for €5 billion ($5.4bn) last year.