The telecommunication industry’s 5G push has leveled off as operators are now looking to squeeze profits from their initial investments. However, that pause for many operators is impacting their 5G standalone (SA) core deployments, which could be critical for them to support revenue-generating services.

Joe Russo, EVP and president of global networks and technology at Verizon, told attendees at the Scotiabank TMT Conference this week that the carrier continues to work toward updating its network with a focus on investing in areas that in turn will generate revenues.

“We still have to get some of the 5G-Advanced features and standalone and slicing, that'll really also unlock the capabilities,” Russo said of Verizon’s network efforts. “But if I put all those things together and say we now have the capability with standalone to slice the network, to provide ultra-high downlink and uplink and low latency, I think that's a platform that will enable tremendous innovation. And I think it will enable device innovation, it will invite application innovation.”

“How that all gets monetized, you know, we'll see how that works,” he added. “But my job is to provide those kinds of platforms and work with the partners to develop those ecosystems so that our customers now have something — whether it's an enterprise or a consumer — they now have a problem that they can solve with something that never could be solved before. And hopefully they value it so much that they're willing to pay us to get access to it.”

Russo’s focus on those advanced features, which are based on a 5G SA core, is one that the industry continues to slowly sharpen.

A recent report from Dell’Oro Group’s Dave Bolan noted that only 12 new 5G SA cores were deployed in 2023, compared to 18 in 2022. Counterpoint Research came to a similar conclusion, noting that 55 operators worldwide had an operational commercial 5G SA core at the end of last year.

“The biggest surprise for 2023 was the lack of 5G SA deployments by AT&T, Verizon, British Telecom EE, Deutsche Telekom and other mobile network operators (MNOs) around the globe,” Bolan wrote.

A 5G SA core, which consists of the user plane, control plane and shared data layer network functions, allows operators to deliver a more resilient core network. It also supports highly-touted 5G services like network slicing, automation, orchestration and multi-access edge computing (MEC).

This compares to a 5G non-standalone (NSA) core that relies on an operator’s legacy 4G LTE core for base processing and routing.

“Standalone unlocks more use cases for consumers and enterprises,” Julian Hurtado, radio access network (RAN) solutions manager at Ericsson, explained in a report. “5G SA will also speed up network slicing opportunities for multiple customer segments, offering an infrastructure for businesses to enable solutions such as smart manufacturing and IoT-driven innovation, while giving consumers a better and more consistent service experience. It is a big step forward for communications service providers, as it enables a more flexible approach to service creation and provision for subscribers.”

Vodafone recently noted that a 5G SA core can provide up to $10 billion per year in productivity savings for small- and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom. This is based on the technology being able to support new low-latency services.

In the U.S., T-Mobile and Dish Network remain the only two operators to be running a commercial 5G SA core. Both of those operators have repeatedly touted the benefits they gain from those deployments.

AT&T and Verizon have operational 5G SA cores, but access remains limited despite echoing the same benefits.

During a keynote speech at last year’s Brooklyn 6G Summit, Chris Sambar, EVP for technology at AT&T, said the carrier’s under-the-radar 5G SA network was supporting a lot of new 5G customers and use cases. Specifically, he stated that the carrier’s 5G SA core was supporting all of AT&T’s fixed-wireless access (FWA) customers and supporting some of its connected car use cases. He also said all of the carrier’s Apple iPhone 15 devices are running on that advanced core.

“I would say we are not moving as quickly as some of the other operators on the 5G standalone core, but we see the use cases that are coming, we understand when they’re coming, so we’re being very purposeful about getting there when we need to get there,” Sambar said. “No issues and we’re pretty excited about that.”

Adam Koeppe, SVP of network planning at Verizon, told SDxCentral in a recent interview that while the carrier has a 5G SA core supporting commercial traffic, testing and device interoperability with that core remains a work in progress.

Koeppe said that in moving toward a 5G SA core “you’re eliminating 4G-anything from the equation. So not only do you need the 5G core functions for SA functioning on your 5G core, you also have to ensure that your RAN software accommodates SA capabilities. And then you have to ensure your chipset and device portfolio is SA-capable as well, and that’s been a relatively slower ramp.”

Dell’Oro Group’s Bolan noted that despite the challenges, he expects there to be more 5G SA cores launched this year than the 18 that were launched in 2022. This will allow operators to begin to unlock those new technologies and services like the IoT-focused RedCap specification, better quality voice services using 5G voice-over-new-radio (VoNR) technology and the beginning of 5G-Advanced deployments.

“These new services will enable more applications and enrich the communication experience for all users of 5G SA networks,” Bolan wrote.