Nokia today announced it will supply U.S. Cellular with hardware, software, and services for the regional operator’s 5G standalone (SA) core that it expects to deploy by the end of next year.

The operator, which has about 5 million customers, turned to one of its three primary radio access network (RAN) vendors for the 5G SA core. Ericsson and Samsung also provide 5G RAN equipment to the carrier.

U.S. Cellular activated its first 5G markets in parts of Iowa and Wisconsin in early 2020. The operator claims Nokia’s 5G SA core will help it deliver higher speeds, lower latencies, and new applications at a faster pace.

“As we deploy 5G SA core, Nokia brings expertise, technology excellence, and the right mix of hardware, software, and services to meet our requirements for high performance and low latency,” U.S. Cellular CTO Mike Irizarry said in a statement.

Nokia said its 5G SA core is currently deployed in more than 70 networks globally, but very few of those are commercially available. 

“Working with U.S. Cellular to provide the core network function software and cloud infrastructure continues our momentum in the North American standalone 5G core market,” Ed Cholerton, president of Nokia North America, said in a statement. 

Nokia also provided its 5G SA core to T-Mobile US, the first operator to deploy a 5G SA core. It remains the only U.S. operator with a commercially available standalone 5G network.

5G SA cores remain incredibly scarce. Most of the 141 live 5G networks at the end of April 2021 were still operating in non-standalone mode, Stéphane Téral, chief analyst at LightCounting, noted during a panel discussion at MWC Barcelona 2021. 

As of early July, there were only eight standalone networks globally, he said. KT Corp.’s 5G SA core deployment later that month brought the total global footprint of 5G SA cores to nine. 

There’s been a lot of chatter about tests, trials, and advancements on 5G SA cores going back to late 2018, but very few operators are running a pure 5G network today. A 5G SA core introduces many of the features considered most unique to 5G, including higher data throughput and performance, lower latency, network slicing, and many advancements that are considered crucial for mobile edge computing and industrial applications.

5G cores are also a critical piece of infrastructure that allows network operators to run 5G in a fully virtualized, cloud-based, and unencumbered environment running on new equipment.