Sponsored: Realising the true business value of 5G requires telcos get to grips with the ‘core’ of the technology
With 5G, the opportunity for positive societal transformation is greater than anything we’ve seen before.
From sustainable smart manufacturing and efficient transport networks through to personalised healthcare and accessible education, the commercialisation of 5G promises to change our world for the better.
5G will disrupt business models, enhance public services, even reimagine entire industries. But to achieve this, one vital industry needs to transform first – the telco operators’ own.
First to Market vs. Full Features
5G is the fastest-deployed mobile generation in history and coverage continues to grow rapidly – Ericsson’s 2022 Mobility Report forecasts that 5G mobile subscriptions will surpass one billion in 2022.
Due to a need to keep costs low and a desire to be first to market, many operators began their 5G journey by building on non-standalone (NSA) architecture. Using existing 4G LTE radio equipment and spectrum to support new 5G services, this approach enabled much faster deployment.
However, there is an inbuilt limitation to this approach. By relying on the previous generation of technology, it’s not possible to receive the full range of capability enhancements an operator can expect on a standalone 5G network.
The most innovative new applications and business cases depend on significantly improved speed, latency, robustness, security, and positioning – benefits that are reliant on 5G standalone and 5G Core – as well as the enablement of capabilities like end-to-end network slicing.
Supporting Emerging Business Models
Unlike an NSA network, 5G Core for standalone is a core network – the infrastructure responsible for establishing reliable, secure connectivity to the network and access to services – built from the ground up using technologies specifically designed to support next-generation services.
The heart of a 5G mobile network, a 5G Core for standalone is cloud-native by design, meaning that it is agnostic when it comes to underlying cloud infrastructure, ensuring greater responsiveness, scalability, resiliency, and higher deployment flexibility.
While this approach is widely recognised as the foundation for achieving the full benefits of 5G, there are several barriers that operators must overcome when it comes to deployment. How can migration be managed to minimise disruption? Can the technology integrate with existing systems? What is required to upskill employees and update processes?
Understanding Your Environment
To ensure a smooth transition to 5G Core for standalone, it is important to first understand what 5G functionality is required to enable the use cases and business models operators want to support. For example, it is likely that some functionality will only be required in certain geographic areas, such as manufacturing parks or airports.
These kinds of variables mean there is not one optimum model for deployment. Transformation paths can vary significantly depending on market realities and business needs. But there are some common approaches that will consistently deliver results.
A dual-mode Core is an effective way to ease the introduction of new 5G Core network architecture, as it allows an efficient co-existence with 4G. For example, Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core is built on cloud-native, microservices-based technology, and combines Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and the new 5G Core (5GC) network functions into a common multi-access platform that supports 5G and previous generations.
An optimised cloud architecture is also critical. Ericsson has long been a leader in this space, creating a set of five key design principles to help organisations take full advantage of cloud-native technology.
Perhaps most important of these principles when it comes to optimising cloud architecture for 5G concerns orchestration and automation. Highly automated network operations paired with automated service orchestration drive huge efficiencies for service providers. This will allow service providers to focus on how 5G can be applied to address the business needs of specific customer organisations or industries, while optimising their operational costs.
Securing a Slice of the Action
New low latency 5G use cases are amongst the most promising for industries, enabled by more distributed networks and technologies like network slicing. Network slicing means service providers can segment a single end-to-end network into distinct virtual slices, each providing customer specific, dedicated resources and capabilities depending on their needs.
This will enable new business model innovation and will be critical to opening up new 5G-enabled revenue streams for service providers.
The automotive sector, and the self-driving cars it is developing, for example, represents a huge opportunity for operators. Demanding constant connectivity and superior quality of service, getting these vehicles to market will depend on manufacturers obtaining a dedicated network slice capable of delivering on a Service Level Agreement (SLA) negotiated with the operator.
It is in these kinds of mission critical capabilities that 5G will provide the benefits that operators are looking for. By gaining access to these benefits, commercial and enterprise customers will increasingly see these operators as a critical partner in the next stage of their evolution, instead of just another service provider. Aside from opening new revenue streams, operators can also expect 5G to result in higher levels of consumer satisfaction and loyalty.
Ericsson is already working with leading organisations around the globe to facilitate the migration to 5G Core for standalone. In some regions we are already seeing some brands beginning to reap the benefits.
Breaking the Generational Cycle
Around the world, the telco industry has successfully navigated the important first phase of 5G’s roll-out, with a broad deployment of both networks and devices across regions. We are now well into the next stage, where the global industry is steadily transitioning to 5G standalone, with the Core network to support it. It is time to build on these early successes, expanding and scaling the technology among service providers to realise the real value of 5G for society, businesses and for network operators themselves.
One thing we learned from 4G is that those organisations that launched and invested in the technology early and led in its deployment are the ones who ultimately retained the largest market share. Similarly, service providers that lead the transition to 5G Core for standalone will find themselves as the real winners of the 5G era, positioned at the centre of an incredible period of transformation, driving innovation across industries to fundamentally disrupt the way we deliver and consume digital services.
They will also be the operators that break the generational cycle of high CAPEX, low returns and elevate themselves in the eco-system beyond a utility into true partners for digital transformation.
For further insights and information, visit the Ericsson 5G Core resource centre.
About the author
Alvise Carlon is Head of Digital Services, Europe & Latin America at Ericsson
