The operator called the trial “a significant milestone” as it moves towards the launch of its own 5G Standalone network
BT Group says it has successfully demo’d network slicing in collaboration with Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies. The trial was carried out at BT’s R&D centre, Adastral Park in eastern England. It used Ericsson’s 5G Core and Radio Access Network technology with devices based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy Mobile Platform.
The three set up network slices for gaming, enterprise applications and enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB). They allocated a portion of the 5G Standalone (5GSA) network to provide dynamic partitions for specific use-cases. This showed how optimal performance can be maintained for bandwidth-hungry applications like gaming and video conferencing, even in peak times.
Game on
According to BT, “Mobile gaming is experiencing relentless growth, with traffic on EE’s network almost doubling since the beginning of 2023 to more than two petabytes of data every month”.
BT Group, Ericsson and Qualcomm showcased a gaming session on Fortnite Nvidia’s GeForce Now, maintaining a throughput above 25 Mbps at 1080p even when a background load was added. The experience was simultaneously compared to a non-optimised eMBB RAN partition, also congested by the background load. This delivered a poorer experience.
In business
The trial showed network slicing’s potential for BT Group’s business customers. The enterprise and eMBB slices were configured via User Equipment Route Selection Policy (URSP) rules. They enable a device to connect to multiple network slices simultaneously depending on the application.
The pilot showed consistent 4K video streaming and enterprise use-cases using the Samsung S23 Ultra device, powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. Enterprise communications platforms and video applications such as YouTube require a stable connection and low jitter to work well. The Ericsson 5G RAN Slicing feature, Radio Resource Partitioning ensured enterprise traffic achieved optimal experience
Stepping stone to 5G SA
Greg McCall, Chief Networks Officer, BT Group, said, “As we work diligently towards the launch of our own 5G SA network, today’s successful demonstration of how slicing enables us to differentiate Quality of Service to guarantee performance for different segments is a significant milestone, and illustrative of the new services that will be enabled by 5G SA.”
Katherine Ainley, CEO, Ericsson UK & Ireland, said, “This ultimate next step in connectivity will enable new service offerings for consumers and businesses who require premium performance, while helping to drive future market growth and innovation for the UK in a wide range of new industries.”