Hawaii-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Mobi recently launched a pilot service tapping into a fully cloud-native core from Working Group Two (WGtwo) and riding on Amazon Web Services (AWS) that matches the technology sophistication of what established operators are only now just rolling out.

Mobi CEO Justen Burdette said the WGtwo platform was installed in a matter of weeks, a task helped by its use of a cloud-native architecture. Burdette explained he had the kick-off call with WGtwo the last week of November, and that the 5G core was operational by January 10.

This timing included the loss of several weeks due to one of its larger network partners shutting down all network access due to the end-of-year holidays.

“I'm pretty sure they would have had it live by mid-December probably at the latest,” Burdette said of WGtwo’s efforts.

WGtwo’s cloud-based 5G core is offered to operators that can plug their 5G radio access network (RAN) and support systems into for seamless access. That core sits on AWS cloud infrastructure, with operators tapping into the platform through an as-a-service model.

“We’re trying to steal the business model back from the tech giants and bring them back to telecom,” WGtwo CEO Erlend Prestgard said in a recent podcast interview with SDxCentral.

Roy Chua, founder and principal at research firm AvidThink, noted that since WGtwo basically runs the infrastructure on its own AWS account it’s benefited by making it as efficient as possible.

“Which makes sense, right, the incentives are aligned correctly, which is WGtwo has an incentive to try to lower the cost and improve the performance of the system, because they're getting paid by the mobile network operator directly,” Chua said. “The more they save, the more profits they make.”

Burdette explained that the WGtwo core will allow the operator to consolidate control over its diverse network cores into a single point of contact. This will allow Mobi to simplify its own operations and also allow it to roll out new services to all of its customer base.

“We can manage everyone from a single [business support system] and [operating support system], we can apply the same business rules to everyone and not have all of these sharp edges for each group of customers,” Burdette said.

That consolidation was important for Mobi as the operator currently runs three network cores due to its unique operating history, “none of which we fully control, unfortunately,” Burdette added.

Mobi initially started as a facilities-based mobile network operator that owned its own spectrum and network resources in Hawaii. The carrier even ran commercials during the 2012 Super Bowl.

However, it soon made network and roaming arrangements with larger operators to broaden its coverage without increasing operating complexity. That included the need to use different network cores from those operators to support its customers, which ended up adding extra layers to its customer management and service deployment process.

Burdette said Mobi had been approaching this issue prior to the pandemic, which itself threw “a wrench into the plans” in terms of timing. That initial approach was pointing toward using an established network core environment from a conventional vendor.

“We had looked at some of the options when we first started down this path and at that point there weren't a whole lot of commercial cloud-based core options yet, but we were taking a look at everything else that was out there,” Burdette explained.

This included initial conversations with WGtwo, which Burdette noted would have at that time made Mobi one of WGtwo’s first customers.

“They were very much in startup mode when we first started having these conversations with them, but they really excited us in terms of their vision of where things were going and could go, and how they were going to sort of try and push things in that direction,” Burdette said.

Chua explained that WGtwo managed to conquer a complex task.

“A mobile core is no small task, but they've done it with cloud-native architectures, which no one has actually done before,” Chua said. “And it allowed them to go much faster and actually a lot more efficient than probably a lot of mobile cores.”

Nokia late last year added 5G core to its growing as-a-service model, which the vendor explained was one of its most complicated software-as-a-service (SaaS) implementations. Ed Elkin, 5G core solutions marketing executive at Nokia, explained those challenges included developing a 5G standalone (SA) core, migrating that core to work reliability and consistently in a public cloud environment, and putting it in a package that was easy to consume.

Mobi’s path allows the operator to bypass that complexity – an important component for an operator with just four people on its engineering team – and join larger operators that are now starting to operate their 5G network cores in a cloud environment. T-Mobile US, for instance, recently launched a Cisco-powered cloud-native 5G core gateway platform that sets up the operator to more quickly standup new services and can help it better monetize its 5G network investments.

The cloud architecture also allows WGtwo to scale its service to theoretically meet any need.

“Normally when you go from say 10,000, to 100,000, to one million users, there are usually little tweaks you haven’t realized,” Chua said. “But there’s no architectural reason they can’t overcome this. There is no clear reason why this can’t scale.”

Chua added that WGtwo can also tap into AWS’ deep pool of cloud analytics to feed new carrier services.

Burdette said Mobi plans to tap into that capability to launch new services. The operator recently signed a deal with Federated Wireless, which offers a hosted private 5G service fed by its position as a spectrum access system (SAS) administrator for the lightly licensed Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum.

“We’re at a point now, for better or worse, where there are so many things that we can do,” Burdette said. “We need to be really diligent about prioritizing and choosing.”