MegaFon implements Nexign DRA to improve signal network performance and flexibility

2025: First phase of Nexign Diameter Routing Agent implementation

Nexign has completed the first phase of implementing its own Nexign Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) solution for routing and balancing signaling traffic in MegaFon's infrastructure. The project involves complete import substitution of the foreign system. Traffic transfer is carried out in stages and unnoticed by subscribers. MegaFon announced this on November 6, 2025.

The migration project began in 2024 as part of MegaFon's import substitution program. Systems of the Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) class, responsible for routing and balancing signal traffic in 3G and 4G networks, are included in the list of CII facilities, so it is important for the operator that the solution works on the basis of the Russian operating system. In addition, one of the key requirements for the system was the ability to deploy DRA in a cloud infrastructure - this model supports rapid scaling and allows you to separate software management from hardware.

Nexign DRA also has a number of other advantages in comparison with previously installed foreign software. First of all, the operator can independently configure traffic processing scripts and customize them by configuring and low-code logic. At the same time, it is possible to take into account any parameters, set processing and balancing rules, which makes the system more flexible, adaptive and easy to manage.

In addition, Nexign DRA has higher performance, which provides lower cost of ownership (TCO) by reducing regular investment in server hardware purchases. Flexible request routing improves network utilization, and traffic mirroring and advanced feilover processing allow you to quickly switch to redundant channels and nodes. In turn, load balancing and a variety of overload controls serve to detect and prevent potential problems early. All this ensures high reliability and uninterrupted operation of the system even in conditions of significant loads.

With Nexign DRA, the operator also managed to optimize the network architecture. Previously, it was necessary to use separate load balancers before the network functions of charging and policy management, but now there is no need for these components: functionality is provided on the side of the trunk solution from Nexign.

Migration to Nexign DRA takes place sequentially, while maintaining the continuity of operator services and unnoticed by subscribers. As of November 2025, the transfer of traffic from one of MegaFon's branches is nearing completion. This platform already handles 10% of signaling traffic and more than one million successful network registrations per hour. It is planned to transfer all eight branches of the company to a domestic solution. The project provides for the technical possibility of scaling the solution. This will allow the system to cope with the predicted increase in load over the next 7 years or more.

The transition to Nexign DRA allowed MegaFon not only to comply with the requirements of the legislation in terms of import substitution of software for CII facilities, but also to increase the performance and scalability of the signal network. By the end of 2026, it is planned to provide a system throughput of 456,000 transactions per second, and in the future - to expand it to 5 million. In addition, the operator can reduce investments in network equipment. The solution already provides the required level of performance with less resources, and in the future it will help to significantly optimize the cost of operating DRA systems, "said Sergei Karpov, First Deputy General Director for Business Development Nexign.

It is important for us that all key elements of the network are under our technological control. Nexign DRA ensures such independence and at the same time opens up opportunities for development. The solution has already allowed us to optimize the network structure, reduce maintenance costs and simplify traffic management. All this directly affects the stability of the quality of communication and the speed of services for millions of our subscribers, "said Pavel Gordeev, Development Director of the MegaFon backbone network.