Ericsson and Telstra Trumpet 5G Standalone Call
Ericsson and Telstra completed Australia’s first “end-to-end” call using mobile network equipment based on the 5G New Radio Standalone (5G NR SA) specification and the 3.6 GHz spectrum band. 5G NR SA is regarded as the basis for “true” 5G as, unlike the earlier 5G NR Non-Standalone (5G NR NSA) specification, it is not reliant on 4G LTE technology to signal between the 5G device and the base station and instead uses a full 5G core.
Telstra hailed the pilot as a further milestone in its move toward a wider launch of 5G networks. Australia’s largest network operator opened its 5G Innovation Center in collaboration with Ericsson in 2018, and launched limited 5G services this past May. Telstra has now rolled out 5G services in 10 cities and plans to expand the network to at least 35 cities during the next 12 months.
According to Channa Seneviratne, network and infrastructure engineering executive at Telstra, the 5G standalone call “is the first step in moving toward a 5G core, which will bring flexible network architecture and even lower latency. These enhancements will open up more use cases and opportunities in the future such as industrial automation and control and provide the enablement of new services and applications that we haven’t even thought of yet.”
Ericsson and Telstra have been working on a number of areas over the years including 5G, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and CAT-M1 (also known as LTE CAT-M or LTE-M) for IoT devices. In 2011, the Sweden-based vendor was also selected as the telco’s launch partner for its 4G LTE network, making it the obvious choice for Telstra’s early 5G NR NSA launches.
The launch of 5G NR SA could allow Telstra to break free from its incumbent vendor. Ed Gubbins, principal analyst at GlobalData, recently noted that “standalone 5G, which requires a 5G core, will give vendors a better chance to penetrate new operator accounts and grow their global market share.”
For now it seems that the Australian telco is sticking with Ericsson. Indeed, Ericsson’s largest competitor, Huawei, was effectively banned from Australia after government officials uncovered serious vulnerabilities in the China-based vendor’s equipment and determined the country’s national interests could be exposed to spying and sabotage.
Vendor Complexity
The situation regarding China-based vendors such as Huawei and ZTE remains complex, although they continue to be used in 5G networks around the world. For example, Monaco Telecom recently became the first European operator to fully base its 5G network on equipment from Huawei; Vodafone UK is still using Huawei equipment in its 5G radio access network (RAN); and Huawei equipment is being used in 5G networks in Germany.
To be sure, Huawei’s future in many markets is still unclear. For example, the United Kingdom has delayed a decision on whether Huawei could participate in building 5G until it has a clearer picture on the impact of U.S. measures taken against the vendor. Nevertheless, Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, remains confident that the vendor’s equipment will be used in core parts of UK 5G networks.
In the European Union, more should be revealed over the coming months now that 24 member states have completed the first step in setting up national risk assessments tied to securing their 5G networks. As things stand, there has been no direct mention of Huawei and ZTE in communications about the risk assessments.
Gloss