Digitalk said Tuesday that it has selected Affirmed as a partner for the packet core as it looks to expand into more global markets with voice-over-IP, voice-over-WiFi and 4G data offerings, with a future eye on 5G.

UK-based Digitalk Ltd. is a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE) technology provider, which means it supports services for mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) renting bandwidth from other service providers but operating under their own brand. One of its most notable customers is Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD). (See Vodafone UK Strikes MVNE Deal With Digitalk and Affirmed Gets on the Virtual Road With Vodafone.)

"We have 200-plus customers globally," Mark Ashdown, chief strategy officer at Digitalk, tells Light Reading. Digitalk is using Affirmed Networks Inc. 's Mobile Contact Cloud to roll out data offerings, voice-over-IP and voice-over-WiFi. (See Affirmed Claims Mobile NFV Customers, Trials.)

Affirmed is part of Digitalk's "MVNE as a service" over the cloud strategy. In practice, this means it can do things like offering a user a free app download if they top up their data bucket with an extra $20 payment.

These bids to update its cloud platform underpin Digitalk's desire to expand its largely Euro-centric customer base. The company already has a global infrastructure featuring points of presence (PoPs) in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Ashdown says that expansion in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East is on Digitalk's agenda.

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The CSO is also happy with Affirmed's self-described "5G Ready" core software. "In a few years, we'll be looking into 5G, and Affirmed seemed very much on the ball with that, Ashdown notes. (See Affirmed: 5G-Ready Core Is Table Stakes for Operators and Core Blimey! Affirmed Eyes 5G Services Evolution Next.)

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading