Verizon’s 5G core won’t be fully deployed and commercially available until 2022 — a delay that affords T-Mobile US continued bragging rights as the only U.S. carrier with 5G services running in standalone (SA) mode. 

Verizon previously said 5G network traffic would start hitting its 5G core in 2020 and pledged full commercialization of the 5G SA core in 2021. The operator hit the former this year, but the latter won’t occur until 2022. 

“We have 5G core services that are operational and allow us to support non-standalone (NSA) traffic, which is how the 5G network is constructed today,” said Adam Koeppe, Verizon’s SVP of network technology and planning, in an interview with SDxCentral. 

He disputes the suggestion that Verizon’s 5G core is delayed, adding “I don’t know that we’ve pushed back any timing actually at all.”

Nonetheless, Verizon is currently building out 5G core network functions and testing traffic and architecture on those functions, according to Koeppe. Some “friendly users” are currently using SA capable parts of Verizon 5G core, and that will scale with broader adoption in 2022, he said. 

Koeppe largely explained the timing of Verizon’s 5G core deployment as a progressive measure that requires 5G SA capable devices. This requires the radio access network, network core, device chipsets, and software to work in unison, supporting the same architecture, he said.

“The ideal scenario, when you have a core progression like standalone, is you’re pairing that with your device evolution, because today’s 5G devices to a large majority are NSA devices,” Koeppe said.

Indeed, some of today’s 5G smartphones don’t support SA mode, but that’s not the case for all. Two of the most popular smartphones on the market today, Apple’s iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 both support 5G SA mode, for example.

Verizon said it successfully completed an end-to-end data session on its 5G SA core in July 2020. T-Mobile activated the world’s first 5G SA core less than a month later. 

The SA 5G core, which adheres to a cloud native, containerized design with fully virtualized webscale software, remains rare in 5G networks today. It allows network operators to deliver a distinct, some say pure, 5G network unencumbered by old equipment or protocols — and most importantly it removes carriers’ reliance on legacy 4G LTE evolved packet cores (EPC).

Verizon began laying the groundwork for this transition years ago by incrementally moving its network functions and “directional technology” as Koeppe described it to a virtual cloud platform. Verizon designed, created, administers, and operates that internal cloud infrastructure for its network core and edge. Virtualized core network functions were among the first to make that shift, he explained.

“On the 5G front, the entire 5G core that’s in development now will be on our cloud platform in a webscale architecture. 4G and 5G radio access nodes will have virtual basebands associated with most of them,” Koeppe said. 

“That is the progression you'll continue to see. As we look for the most sophisticated and efficient way to architect the network, you'll see a lot more virtual network functions running on our cloud platform,” he added.

This network evolution strategy also sets Verizon up to take advantage of open RAN architecture in the future, according to Koeppe. 

Whereas Verizon today virtualizes network functions and other services for equipment it buys from the same supplier, open RAN allows it to up that virtualization path up to mix and match suppliers across the baseband and radio.

Koeppe said he expects open RAN to make its mark in the 5G era, picking up steam in 2022, but “most operators will be fairly selective around where they employ that architecture as it matures over time.”

Indeed, flexibility is one of the more compelling aspects of open RAN in that it allows operators to apply the architecture to individual parts of the network rather than requiring the whole network to adhere to open RAN, he added.

While Verizon advances on network virtualization and the development of its 5G core, it’s also gearing up to activate a massive deployment of C-band equipment and infrastructure for its mid-band 5G network. 

Despite a relatively brief delay due to spectrum interference issues raised by the Federal Aviation Administration, Verizon is holding firm to its plan to cover 100 million people with mid-band 5G in 46 markets by March 2022.

The physical build process for that commenced before the FAA’s safety concerns resulted in a delay, and sites are currently on air and being tested across all 46 markets, Koeppe said.