LAS VEGAS – Verizon remains on track to launch a 5G standalone (SA) core to unlock more revenue-generating opportunities, but is not yet convinced the quality of that platform is ready for commercial use. It shares that view on open radio access network (RAN) technology as well.

Joe Russo, EVP and president of Verizon’s global networks and technology business, told SDxCentral during an interview at this week’s MWC Las Vegas event that the operator is “bullish on standalone.”

“We are all in. We think that it gives us great 5G capabilities for future needs,” Russo said, before further clarifying, “I say those are future needs.”

Standalone for future needs

Russo later explained that the operator is starting to see some interest in services like fixed-wireless access (FWA), private networks and network slicing that could be enhanced with a 5G SA core, but it’s able to meet most of that today with its current 5G non-standalone (NSA) and 4G LTE cores.

“We don't see that there's a huge need for me to move in that direction,” Russo said. “I have the capacity and coverage that our customers need, and I have the feature functionality that they can do what they need to do.”

Beyond an immediate need, Russo also said that Verizon’s own testing of 5G SA has shown a need for the technology to improve.

“We're not going to put technology in the network that steps us back from a reliability and performance perspective,” Russo said. “And I would say generally, based on the testing we've done, based on the work we're doing trialing our standalone capabilities, we are not ready to put that out into the network.”

Russo specifically mentioned challenges with handling voice traffic on 5G voice-over-new-radio (VoNR) technology that can compare with its already established voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) network.

“We want to make sure it's done right, so we're doing a lot of testing with that right now,” Russo said. “We're trying to make sure that we have that really at the standards of Verizon before we put it out.”

The executive hinted that Verizon in the next couple of months will “have more to say around standalone, network-slicing trials we’ve got going on, etc.”

Verizon had initially pledged full commercialization of its 5G SA core in 2021. It missed that deadline, but last year it did start moving some commercial traffic to its 5G SA core.

Verizon more cautious than rivals

Verizon’s approach is starkly different from that of rival T-Mobile US, whose executives repeatedly reminded those in attendance at this year’s event of the carrier being the only nationwide operator running a full 5G SA core. The carrier has also started to transfer voice traffic to its 5G SA core using VoNR.

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 and support highly-touted 5G services like network slicing, automation, orchestration and mobile edge computing (MEC).

This differs from a non-standalone (NSA) 5G core that relies on an operator’s legacy 4G LTE core for base processing and routing, but lacks access to the more advanced 5G features.

Counterpoint Research recently concluded that 5G SA deployments slowed during the first half of this year. It found that only a single-digit number of operators commercially launched 5G SA cores compared to more than 20 being launched in 2022.

The analyst firm cited global macroeconomic factors as the primary reason for the slowdown, as well as a lack of clear monetization plans, though it did note some use-case progress tied to fixed-wireless access (FWA) services and network slicing.

Verizon 5G open RAN journey continues to roll

Verizon is also taking a cautious approach to open RAN. While the operator has been very aggressive in deploying an underlying virtualized RAN (vRAN) architecture, it’s still waiting for open RAN to mature.

“At this point, what I typically say is we're doing a lot of testing, we're very interested in what that comes to be, but we don't see it today at scale,” Russo said of open RAN. “It's not to say that it won't be at some point, but I think there's a lot of roads in front of us on the [open RAN] space, so we'll see how that evolves.”

Russo noted that some of the bigger open RAN challenges remain around interoperability, software, the ability to scale and performance.

“We have very high-performance standards on the Verizon network when it comes to voice, when it comes to data, when it comes to getting on the network, staying on the network and being able to do what you have to do. Generally, you know, it's a pretty high bar if you're going to work inside of the Verizon network,” Russo said. “It's been a challenge to make sure that those performance levels are met. … It's early. I'm not saying that we’re not interested in it. I certainly will see where it takes us.”

Going where (and when) the money leads

That journey will also have to traverse spectrum availability and financial realities.

Former T-Mobile President of Technology Neville Ray, during an interview at the MWC Barcelona 2023 event earlier this year, stated that while he was an open RAN backer, the operator’s cautious approach to the technology was also impacted by its 5G deployment timing.

“For us, we didn’t go down an open RAN path when we made our big vendor decisions three years ago,” Ray said. “The pace and scale that we were moving on, features and capabilities we needed, the ecosystem just was not ready. And the O-RAN guys will tell you that.”

Those RAN decisions involved five-year contracts signed in early 2021 with Ericsson and Nokia to supply 5G RAN equipment for T-Mobile’s $40 billion network upgrade. Those vendors have lagged the broader ecosystem in commercializing open RAN equipment.

Russo acknowledged that those investment cycles have indeed played a part in Verizon’s open RAN story.

“Those investments cycles depend on the standards. They depend on spectrum availability. There's a lot of things that happen there. But we'll keep it rolling,” Russo said.