Urban Galaxy or OPPO owners only
Vodafone UK is holding live trials in metropolitan areas with select customers on the ‘standalone’ sections of its 5G network. Members of the elite group of 5G SA, who live in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Bath, Glasgow and Birmingham, identified by their ownership of Samsung Galaxy S21/S22 or OPPO Find X3/X5 Pro smartphones, will be discretely informed of their appointment for trials by SMS messages from their handler at Vodafone control room.
Their mission is to explore the possibilities of the purist’s version of the signalling technology, which is ringfenced away from previous generations of networking, such as LTE, by specially designed 5G signalling techniques. These special subscribers will penetrate the Metaverse and gather intelligence about augmented and virtual realities. Vodafone is keen to test video streaming, telemedicine and online gaming.
The cover for entering the special area is interest in how the new network infrastructure, built by Ericsson, Vodafone’s people in Sweden who have all been given clearance by GCHQ, is helping to improve customer battery life and creating a smoother experience for services. In March 2022, Vodafone and Ericsson completed lab trials for network slicing. “Eligible customers who opt into the trial will benefit from even better reliability, improved battery life and improved coverage,” said a message from the Vodafone agency.
It’s thought that the intelligence that Vodafone keenest on gathering is about network steering. This is a technology that allows the network to direct a device automatically towards the right connectivity, be it 4G, 5G non-standalone or 5G standalone, depending on the services in use. “Network steering will improve the efficiency of Vodafone’s network, providing a better experience for all customers,” said Vodafone.
An investigation by Telecom TV found that Vodafone UK’s chief network officer, Andrea Dona, has been talking. In a blog Dona said that extending the métier of the 5G SA core platform to the rest of the UK would require support from Number 10 and Ofcom (the UK regulator). According to Dona net neutrality is acting like a handbrake on creativity. UK telcos will need funding too, which could be facilitated with low interest loans. Encouraging public procurement of 5G services and removing the barriers to rollout would be helpful too. “Industry consolidation also has an important role to play in providing the scale necessary to invest,” said Dona, referring to the planned merger of Vodafone UK and Three.
Vodafone’s 5G SA is a rare example in the world, according to US analyst The Dell’oro Group. Its latest quarterly bulletin, Mobile Core Network & Multi-Access Edge Computing, revealed that only 39 operators in the world but predicted that business would reach $50 billion within four year (2027).