T-Mobile US claimed a highly caffeinated network-slicing coup that took advantage of the operator’s 5G standalone (SA) platform to power a high-bandwidth competition.

John Saw, EVP and CTO at T-Mobile US, wrote in a blog post that the carrier used a slice of its commercial 5G SA network to power remote video production during a Red Bull Cliff Diving event held earlier this summer in Boston.

The network slice was used to provide an uplink channel for the transfer of high-resolution video content from cameras and a video drone used to cover the event. Saw added that the slice was able to provide uplink speeds up to 276 Mb/s.

A T-Mobile US spokesperson curtly replied via email that the spectrum sliced was “mid-band spectrum,” which would most likely be from the carrier’s extensive 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings, and that the carrier is working with its “[radio access network], core and device partners on network slicing.” Some of T-Mobile's RAN and core partners include Ericsson, Nokia and Cisco.

The connection between a Red Bull event and enterprise networking

Saw noted that the network slicing work tapped the carrier’s Hybrid Mobile Network that is part of its Advanced Network Solution (ANS) suite.

T-Mobile US unveiled its ANS suite last year, which is a selection of 5G network and edge services targeted at enterprise and government customers. It included a trio of initial components, including the Hybrid Mobile Network that offers “faster speeds, lower latency and/or dedicated reliability.” Nokia at that time was cited as a vendor powering that service.

Saw also cited the carrier’s recent move to open up a network slicing beta program that allows developers to test their video-calling applications on a slice of the carrier’s 5G SA network. The program allows developers to sign up to test video-calling applications, which are considered a prime application for network slicing capabilities as they require a consistent and speedy uplink and downlink connection, low latency and reliability.

The program runs through T-Mobile’s DevEdge program, which the carrier launched in early 2022. DevEdge is the carrier’s developer platform that provides access to T-Mobile’s network using pre-certified modules, chipsets and devices.

T-Mobile pokes at robotaxi meltdown

Saw also touted the ability for network slicing to support other resource-heavy services, taking a strong poke at the recent meltdown of an unnamed cellular network used by the Cruise robotaxi service.

“They caused a traffic jam when the wireless network supporting them had issues – largely because of the increased data usage at a nearby concert,” Saw wrote. “With network slicing, we can work with communities to make key infrastructure and transportation networks more reliable, helping to prevent something like that from happening again.”

Saw in late June touted T-Mobile's 5G network as powering Halo.car’s driverless delivery vehicles in Las Vegas. The T-Mobile US spokesperson this week said the carrier had nothing to announce regarding its work with Halo.car.

T-Mobile’s network slicing blog post came just days after the carrier announced plans to slash 5,000 jobs, which CEO Mike Sievert blamed on the carrier’s recent success that's put the carrier “at a pivotal crossroads.”

“What it takes to attract and retain customers is materially more expensive than it was just a few quarters ago,” Sievert noted. “We’ve been outrunning this trend by accelerating merger synergies and building our high-speed internet business faster than expected, and outperforming in a few other areas. However, it is clear that doing everything we are doing and just doing it faster is not enough to deliver on these changing customer expectations going forward.”

Integration, use cases continue to dog network slicing

T-Mobile's latest network slicing work comes as the overall market continues to lag.

Network slicing itself is viewed as one of the key architectural features of a 5G SA deployment. It allows an operator to basically set up siloed virtual networks that act as independent, scalable networks and can support revenue-generating premium services.

Analyst firms have for years been touting the financial benefits of commercial network-slicing capabilities, especially tied to penetrating different market verticals.

ABI Research this week noted that it still expects a dynamic market over time, but that current technical and use cases issues have slowed those forecasts. The firm had initially forecast a $66 billion market opportunity by 2026; however it’s now forecasting a $19.5 billion market by 2028.

“Horizontal integration for cross-domain interoperability is critical going forward. Equally important is vertical integration for 5G slicing lifecycle management of multi-vendor deployments,” Don Alusha, senior analyst at ABI Research, wrote on the ongoing market challenges.

“There is ongoing market activity for the 5G core network penetration and maturity of 5G slice management functions. To that end, enterprises will seek to create and reserve slices statically and on demand. They also want to efficiently integrate with cloud providers through open and programmable [APIs] to enable hybrid cloud/cellular slice adoption. [Network equipment vendors] and other suppliers offer solutions enabling [communication service providers] to create fully automated and programmatic slicing capability over access, transport and core network domains.”