Feb 20, 20254 min read

CI/CD for telecoms: Building better networks through automated delivery

Jacob Schmitt

Senior Technical Content Marketing Manager

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The software challenge in telecommunications

The telecommunications industry faces massive pressure to innovate. With 5G rollouts, network virtualization, and growing demand for digital services, telecom providers must evolve faster than ever. But in an industry where network reliability is paramount, speed can’t come at the expense of stability.

Telecom software teams juggle complex challenges: maintaining legacy infrastructure, deploying new services, and ensuring network reliability — all while meeting strict regulatory requirements. Traditional manual deployment processes are becoming a bottleneck, preventing telcos from competing effectively in the digital age.

CI/CD solves this challenge by helping telecom teams automate software delivery without compromising reliability or compliance.

What is CI/CD in telecommunications?

Continuous integration and continuous delivery automate the building, testing, and deployment of telecom software and infrastructure. This automation is essential for managing modern telecommunications networks efficiently.

A CI/CD pipeline for telecom software typically includes:

  1. Code integration and automated builds for network services and applications
  2. Comprehensive testing of network configurations and service components
  3. Automated security scans and compliance validation
  4. Controlled deployment across network infrastructure

Why telecom teams struggle without CI/CD

Network reliability risks

Manual deployments increase the chance of configuration errors that can disrupt service for thousands of customers. Even minor mistakes can cascade into major outages.

Complex infrastructure management

Telecom networks combine physical and virtual infrastructure, making updates challenging. Without automation, coordinating changes across these environments is time-consuming and error-prone.

Regulatory compliance overhead

Telecommunications is heavily regulated, requiring careful documentation and validation of changes. Manual processes make compliance more difficult and time-consuming.

Scale and distribution challenges

Telecom infrastructure spans multiple locations and environments. Coordinating updates across distributed networks manually is increasingly unsustainable.

How CI/CD improves telecom software delivery

Automated testing for network reliability

Every change undergoes comprehensive testing before deployment:

  • Network configuration validation
  • Service performance testing
  • Integration testing across network components
  • Automated rollback capabilities

Infrastructure as code automation

CI/CD enables telecom teams to manage infrastructure through code:

  • Automated network configuration updates
  • Version-controlled infrastructure changes
  • Consistent deployment across environments
  • Reduced manual configuration errors

Compliance and security automation

Built-in controls ensure regulatory compliance:

  • Automated policy enforcement
  • Configuration validation
  • Audit trail generation
  • Security scanning and validation

How telecom companies use CI/CD in practice

Network function virtualization (NFV) deployment

A major telecom provider virtualizing network functions uses CI/CD to:

  • Automate deployment of virtual network functions
  • Test service configurations automatically
  • Roll out updates without service interruption
  • Maintain consistent performance across the network

5G service delivery

A 5G network operator leverages CI/CD to:

  • Deploy network slice configurations
  • Validate service quality automatically
  • Scale resources based on demand
  • Monitor and maintain service levels

OSS/BSS modernization

A telecom company modernizing operations support systems uses CI/CD to:

  • Update billing systems safely
  • Automate customer service platform deployment
  • Ensure data consistency across systems
  • Maintain service availability during updates

CircleCI is the ideal CI/CD platform for telecommunications

Built for telecom scale and reliability

High-performance execution: Handle large-scale deployments across distributed networks

Flexible deployment options: Support for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments

Advanced orchestration: Coordinate complex multi-component service deployments

Enterprise-grade security: Protect sensitive network and customer data

Deep integration capabilities

Network automation support: Integrate with network management and orchestration tools

Multi-cloud compatibility: Deploy across major cloud providers and private infrastructure

API-first architecture: Connect with existing telecom systems and tools

Extensible pipelines: Customize workflows for specific network requirements

Comprehensive compliance support

Policy enforcement: Automated compliance checking for regulatory requirements

Audit trail generation: Track and document all deployment activities

Access controls: Role-based permissions for network changes

Security automation: Built-in scanning and validation capabilities

Start automating your telecom software delivery

The telecommunications industry is transforming rapidly, and your software delivery needs to keep pace. CircleCI provides the automation, reliability, and scale that telecom companies need to innovate while maintaining network stability and compliance.

📌 Sign up for a free CircleCI account and start automating your pipelines today.

📌 Talk to our sales team for a CI/CD solution tailored to telecoms.

📌 Explore case studies to see how top telecoms companies use CI/CD to stay ahead.

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