Vodafone UK entered the final phase of a multi-year project to upgrade the backbone of its nationwide infrastructure to converge all mobile, home broadband and business customers onto a single network.

Dubbed Redstream Evolution, the company stated the upgraded network aims to improve the digital experience of all of its customers, introducing greater capacity to meet the needs of a growing base and exponential increases in data consumption.

Vodafone made significant noises about Redstream ahead of its 5G launch in 2018, provided an update on progress, and stated the evolution was allowing it to phase-out old technologies and improve its energy footprint.

Now into the final stages, Vodafone said it had started connecting home broadband, business and mobile customers to the converged network, which was ever-critical as usage dramatically increases.

It serves as the backbone to transport all of its telephony, video and data traffic across the UK through fibre, delivering a single, future-proofed SDN- and edge-enabled offering.

Andrea Dona, chief network officer at Vodafone UK, explained Redstream is a significant investment to modernise the critical link in the network, “creating a new express superhighway bringing more than enough capacity…while staying ahead of future data traffic demands”.

He added more adaptable and flexible infrastructure will help content partners host in more strategic locations and enable a differentiated approach to net neutrality, ensuring networks remained economically sustainable.