-
Regional carrier UScellular boasts 5G standalone (SA) core
-
The first consumers of SA Core are expected to be FWA consumers.
-
U.S. Cellular remained silent about the status of the sale.
Connect (X) Atlanta — U.S. Cellular has deployed its 5G Standalone (SA) Core and is conducting tests with employees but it’s not yet ready to commercially roll it out to consumers, an executive at the major carrier told Fierce.
“We expect to have an initial small number of customers on board within the next couple of months,” said Michael Deanhart, U.S. Cellular’s vice president of engineering and network operations, during the Connect(X) launch. “We expect to have a significant number of customers on board by the end of the second quarter.”
Fixed wireless access (FWA) is likely to be the first application for SA networks. “I think the technology is still moving up the maturity curve,” he said, explaining that the use case for FWA data is a bit simpler than for mobile voice and data.
That’s not to say you can’t do mobile voice services, but it’s easier to start with data. “It’s a little less of a burden from an operational and configuration standpoint,” he says. “It’s easier to manage. I think it’s less complicated.”
It is expected to start small and grow over time as part of the network slicing that 5G SA enables. In fact, the first people to connect to an SA network may not even realize they are connecting to one.
“As a user, you don’t know if you’re using an SA core,” he says. “Standalone cores are more economical and give you more control over your experience.”
Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung all supply radios to UScellular, Nokia and Ericsson supply the core network, and the SA core is all Nokia.
VoNR still has room for improvement
U.S. Cellular hasn’t rolled out voice services based on Voice over New Radio (VoNR) or 5G technology because its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) isn’t that good, and Dienhart said the company doesn’t intend to offer it to consumers until it’s as good or better than VoLTE.
“When you think about the customer experience, it’s just not worth it,” he said, though he’s optimistic the industry will find a way to improve VoNR. “It’s just not ready yet.”
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that T-Mobile and Verizon were in talks to break up U.S. Cellular, which has been exploring a sale for more than six months. This has been no shortage of talking points for Connect (X) participants, but a U.S. Cellular spokesman declined to comment on the matter on Wednesday.
Until the deal is finalized, the advantage will be entirely in the hands of U.S. Cellular and its network team.
