Dozens of mobile network operators are posing as 5G carriers but none of them are the real thing. Not yet at least.

The difference between real and poseur 5G networks rests on a 5G core, which allows operators to deliver 5G in standalone mode and remove its reliance on legacy 4G LTE evolved packet cores (EPCs). 

Standalone (SA) 5G is a rare, well-defined term in the telecommunications industry that succinctly describes itself in a straight-forward manner. The 5G core, which enables this framework, allows for a distinct 5G network unencumbered by old equipment, protocols, or standards. 5G isn’t really 5G until it operates in standalone mode.

Every 5G operator today is providing 5G connectivity in non-standalone (NSA) mode, which means they are tied to legacy 4G LTE equipment. Some operators in China, South Korea, Japan, Europe, and the U.S. intend to deploy a 5G core before the end of this year — about two years after the first wave of mobile 5G NSA deployments got underway. Many more operators are expected to deploy 5G in standalone mode in 2021.

Vendors Assume Positions for 5G Core

This evolution to a standalone network architecture riding on a 5G core isn’t possible until infrastructure vendors provide the necessary software. Huawei and Ericsson are widely recognized as 5G core leaders, but Cisco, Nokia, Samsung, ZTE, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and many others have conducted trials, commercialized 5G core offerings, or revealed plans to do so soon.

Huawei and Ericsson account for 60% of the wireless packet core market today, according to Dell’Oro Group. Huawei claimed to release the first fully containerized 5G core in the fall of 2019. Ericsson released a dual-mode 5G core with cloud-native infrastructure earlier this year, and followed up this week with the release of its SA 5G software. 

Nokia's 5G core for standalone mode is available and a dozen customers, including T-Mobile US  and China Unicom, have purchased it thus far for commercial deployment, according to Ed Elkin, core marketing manager at Nokia Software. The Finnish vendor released cloud-native software applications earlier this year, announced an aggressive open radio access network (RAN) portfolio that aims to disaggregate hardware from software last month, and said its network slicing software will be available by the end of the year.

Samsung also this week announced that it plans to make its 5G portfolio fully virtualized and adhering to open RAN standards. “We absolutely will support open RAN compliant equipment. We’ve already done a lot of interoperability work in this area and you’ll see O-RAN compliance across many of the radios and basebands in our portfolio,” Alok Shah, VP of networks strategy at Samsung’s U.S.-based division told SDxCentral.

“We fully expect standalone core to be commercialized in the second half of this year as well,” he said. “We think Korea will be one of the first markets to commercialize a standalone core, and we’re working closely with the operators on that. So, a fully virtualized and cloud-native, next-generation core will be part of our portfolio.”

Cisco currently has more than 1.2 billion mobile subscribers under management on its 4G LTE EPC and hopes to meet or exceed that strength on a 5G core, Jonathan Davidson, SVP and GM at Cisco’s Mass-Scale Infrastructure group, told SDxCentral last month. Meanwhile, economic uncertainty fueled by the COVID-19 crisis will likely cause some operators to delay 5G core deployments, according to Bob Everson, senior director of 5G architecture at Cisco.

Some operators previously announced plans to deploy a 5G core in the first half of 2020, but none of those goals were realized.

U.S. Operators Vie For 5G Core Firsts

Highlighting early leaders on the 5G core, Davidson pointed to Cisco’s work with T-Mobile US, which designed a SA 5G network core it plans to activate later this year with an assist from multiple vendors, including Cisco, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, and Qualcomm. He claimed T-Mobile US will have “the first 5G SA deployment in the world,” but other global operators are also striving to be first to market.

T-Mobile activated the first nationwide 5G service in the U.S. in December 2019. AT&T claims its 5G network running on low-band spectrum will have a nationwide footprint later this summer, and Verizon maintains that it will reach nationwide 5G coverage before the end of the year.

U.S. operators are nipping at T-Mobile’s heels on a 5G core as well. Verizon this week announced the successful completion of an end-to-end data session on its SA 5G core and said network traffic will start hitting the new core before the year. The operator didn’t name any vendors involved in its SA 5G core, but said full commercialization will occur sometime next year. 

AT&T previously said it would deploy 5G in standalone mode this year, but it hasn’t provided any recent updates on that effort. Its goal of virtualizing and putting 75% of its network functions under SDN control will be met by the end of the year, CTO Andre Fuetsch said last month. 

Dish Network, which recently fulfilled its 12-year quest to become a player in the U.S. wireless market — at least partially as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) — will “build out the first virtualized, standalone 5G network in America,” CEO Erik Carlson said earlier this month. Dish hasn’t named a vendor for its 5G core, and its claim to be the first U.S. operator with a SA 5G network remains unqualified.

All Eyes on China, South Korea

International competition on a 5G core is heating up as well. China’s trio of operators, which activated the world’s largest 5G network in November 2019, are all advancing toward that goal. Standalone 5G deployments are expected to reach the country’s networks later this year but top executives at the operators declined to provide an update on those plans at GSMA’s recent digital conference focused on the Chinese market. 

South Korea’s SK Telecom, which previously laid claim to the world’s first commercially available standards-based mobile 5G network in December 2018, said it initiated a 5G SA data call test with equipment from multiple vendors on its network at the beginning of 2020. The operator previously said it would activate the world’s first 5G SA service in the first half of 2020, but recently declined to provide an update on that timeline, other than to say it still intends to be first to market with a 5G core. 

Trials are well underway around the world as the industry progresses to 5G operating in standalone mode, and “vendors and service providers are working together to learn about the intricacies of implementing 5G SA, which primarily means implementing the 5G core for 5G New Radio (NR) base stations,” Dave Bolan, research director at Dell’Oro Group, wrote in a recent report.

“Some service providers will operate multiple 5G cores dedicated to consumers, enterprise, public safety, and IoT. They believe that dedicated 5G core networks will be able to deliver new agile business solutions at a quicker pace for their respective user bases and more efficient network management,” he wrote. 

The 5G core, which consists of the user plane, control plane, and shared data layer network functions, allows operators to deliver a more resilient core network, according to Bolan. The capabilities of network slicing, automation, orchestration, and mobile edge computing are all extended by a 5G core.

Huawei, Ericsson, Cisco, Samsung, Nokia, and ZTE are all poised to launch 5G core networks with service providers in 2020 in China, South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Europe, and the Middle East, Bolan wrote. “The most aggressive deployments will be in China and Korea.”