Author: Marco Gatti
While the benefits of increased capacity, lower latency, and increased bandwidth are well known, any new 5G business opportunities for carriers will only be realized with 5G standalone.
Non-standalone 5G allows carriers to offer additional capacity and improved data rates to their customers with a 5G coverage overlay based on the 4G network core. New B2C and B2B business cases such as gaming, V2X, IoT, network slicing, and mobile edge computing will create new revenue streams. However, these advanced features rely on 5G SA’s cloud-native core and service-based architecture.
In the 4G and 5G NSA world, a single network is shared among all users. In the upcoming standalone world, each user will have the option to join their own personalized network.
Theoretically, there could be hundreds, thousands, or even millions of simultaneous network slices that could dynamically appear and disappear on the fly, each with its own customer-defined attributes. Masu. Each slice requires its own core network functionality.
From an operational perspective, managing networks is becoming significantly more complex.
Many carriers are experimenting with new 5G features, but so far most have limited the number of slices. This still significantly increases network complexity compared to 4G, as carriers need to monitor and manage multiple core networks end-to-end.
For example, a stadium may have regular requirements for network slices on game days to support electronic ticketing, mobile payments, or in-stadium content services for spectators. However, for concerts held at the same venue, he may benefit from separate slices before and after the event, providing additional support to the 12- or 24-hour production.
Figure 1 4G sets the baseline for OpEx
Healthcare is seen as a huge opportunity for 5G. High availability with guaranteed redundancy is a key attribute for many telehealth services. For remote surgical monitoring, ultra-reliability, not low latency, is the key. It will take some time for remote robotic surgery to become an insurance-covered reality, so humans will continue to handle the scalpels.
Users of capital-intensive plant and machinery place great importance on minimizing downtime and avoiding breakdowns. This type of equipment has traditionally been managed using very conservative physical monitoring. Built-in monitoring capabilities connected through a reliable 5G slice with ultra-low latency can make a big difference by detecting problems microseconds in advance. Until now, wireless connections have not been stable or reliably low latency enough to support such applications.
In a fully 5G world, customers will be able to choose the slicing attributes that meet their specific needs, whether the primary motivation is commercial or safety considerations. There are thousands of potential use cases for 5G slices, but few are aimed at the mass market. 5G will create a mass market for niche applications.
So how do you manage these new networks with unlimited flexibility? The answer is zero-touch automation.
Historically, 4G and physical network capabilities set the baseline for OpEx. Costs remained relatively stable, but rose with inflation and traffic growth (see Figure 1 above). In his current 5G network, the number of slices is limited, mostly static, and managed in the same way as legacy networks. However, this increased complexity and the gradual introduction of new technologies such as containers and public clouds are also increasing operational costs. If current management technologies and processes are maintained into the era of dynamic 5G slicing, operational costs will increase exponentially and become unsustainable. Since reliability is likely to be compromised,
