Managing the 5G migration with a Migration Control Center

On December 8, 2023, 1&1 also launched mobile services on its new mobile network based on the innovative Open RAN technology.

This makes Germany’s fourth 5G network available nationwide for use with mobile devices as well.

More than 12 million mobile customers of 1&1 will be migrated step by step to the state-of-the-art network by early 2026. In areas where the new network does not yet have its own coverage, customers will automatically and seamlessly use the networks of Telefónica and, prospectively, Vodafone from summer 2024 onwards.

As a strong and experienced partner, Liongate supports 1&1 in the successful migration of its existing customers.

Liongate has already been responsible for key migration concepts in what was to date the largest mobile network merger between the former E-Plus and Telefónica and was also highly successful in execution at critical stages. This experience forms the foundation for a focused, on-time, and low-impact migration.

Migrations involve different focal points. Legacy systems, partners, and various organizational units must work closely together to successfully manage this complex task alongside ongoing day-to-day operations.

The goal of every migration is to keep customer interaction and the noticeable impact as low as possible. At the same time, internal activities must remain transparent and controllable. Every additional step or potential error means extra effort and must be consistently avoided—in line with a zero-touch and zero-fault approach.

There is no universal, out-of-the-box solution for process-driven migrations that covers all possible conditions and requirements.

The integration depth of the MiCC – Migration Control Center – into the various legacy systems was deliberately kept as low as possible to avoid unnecessary complexity. MiCC is provided as a fully managed cloud service, offering maximum elasticity to reliably handle highly fluctuating load requirements and large data volumes.

A central status model at the level of each individual migration object provides continuous transparency across different work queues. This includes both data quality issues that must be identified prior to migration and the current progress during the migration itself.

At the core of the solution is a flexibly configurable data engine that is updated daily and serves as a reliable foundation for all migration-relevant processes.

Integration is achieved via clearly defined interfaces that establish the relationships between the Migration Control Center, the legacy systems, and the associated workflows.

Through our consistently agile way of working, based on mutual trust, we were able to provide the Control Center as a service for 1&1 within just a few months.

This was made possible by an overarching migration concept developed at an early stage. The adaptation of our extensive migration experience to local conditions was aligned with all relevant stakeholders. The deliberate encapsulation of functionalities supports self-responsible work within the involved teams.

In the first phase of the overall integration, the interaction of all process elements was thoroughly tested. Identified gaps were prioritized and corrected at an early stage. At the same time, this phase served as a structured onboarding period for all execution roles within the joint execution teams.

MiCC provides maximum transparency while maintaining a high degree of flexibility in the execution of migrations. Migration batches can be adjusted at any time to respond appropriately to error situations or performance requirements.

The migration processes follow a simple, clearly structured status model and are implemented within a consistently hierarchized process framework, reducing complexity and increasing traceability.

By deliberately keeping the integration depth into existing system landscapes to a minimum, unnecessary technical complexity is avoided and the stability of the overall architecture is strengthened.

Provided as a fully managed cloud service, MiCC enables maximum elasticity to reliably handle highly fluctuating load requirements and large data volumes.

Flexible rules can be adjusted at any time via a web interface. These rules control key migration characteristics such as migration eligibility, the appropriate process variant, and prioritization within the migration sequence.