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From Hype To Reality: Outside-In Considerations For Migration, Service Prioritisation and Control
From Hype To Reality: Outside-In Considerations For Migration, Service Prioritisation and Control
FROM
HYPE TO
REALITY
Outside-in Considerations
for Migration, Service
Prioritisation and Control
5G: FROM HYPE
TO REALITY
Introduction
Most people enjoy a positive story about disruption. The temptation has perhaps also been to over-
By now, the benefits in relation to latency, speed, focus on one disruptive service area or use case
coverage, capacity and density of devices that 5G such as industrial IoT or virtual reality or remote
will provide have been well promoted. It is not just surgery, without much consideration of drivers of
another “G” or more speed. Throughout the build- individual services, prioritisation of service rollout
up to 5G and the discussions around its potential or the combined value of adjacent, complimentary
however, the natural tendency for many industry services. 5G is not a “one size fits all”. The
participants has perhaps been to jump a little too migratory path and commercial considerations
far into the future. In that future, 5G is often seen in getting to that 5G future have risked being
as a homogeneous, stand-alone network. It is overlooked amid all the excitement. In reality there
assumed to have a next generation 5G core as will be migratory steps and options for getting to
well as smarter radio and the flexibility to instantly 5G and various non-stand-alone (NSA) options are
create highly dedicated service “slices” that allow now fully recognised by 3GPP standards. But the
for network resource sharing on an as-needed trouble with standards is that they merely represent
basis. 5G is also often described as being in the a template without full consideration of a specific
cloud as though it were automatic. operator’s particular environment or its ambitions
for differentiation.
TM
Fig. 2: Everyone Loves a Slice. Key Questions Remain Around Which to Prioritise
and How to Enable Them for Many Operators (Source: Openet)
Human- Human
Device - Device
Human - Device
- - - 5G - - -
Extreme flexibility, scalability and open interfaces are characteristics that 5G purports to provide so why
would an operator be expected to make a dramatic cut-over to it in any event? That is, if it is so flexible it
must also be supportive of past (3G/4G) enablers. Accountants everywhere will want to ensure that returns
from existing (3G/4G) assets are optimised for as long as possible. The result will be a richer, albeit more
complex fabric of networks, aided by a more open, powerful and flexible 5G.
5G will not be a “one-size fits all” in terms of network upgrade prioritisation. Beyond mere functions,
truly flexible and competitive microservice deployments and updates will apply DevOps principles and
continuous integration, continuous delivery (CI/CD) that are encouraged by 5G definitions. Open APIs
and vendor agnosticism enable rapid integration of partners and true experimentation with new business
models that were mostly dreamt about but seldom realised in 3G/4G environments. With 5G, it’s not
just what is done and which services are prioritised, it is how it is done that will provide meaningful,
competitive, webscale differentiation.
The plethora of additional services in a more complex hybrid environment implies a need for more
nuanced and flexible control of more services on a network-wide and portfolio basis, whether or not those
are an operator’s own-branded services or whether they rely also on 3rd parties. Cloud-based by definition,
the usability, elasticity, openness and continuous upgrade of such controls are likely to be at the heart of
value-generation for many operators.
Fig. 5, Bandwidth & Latency Drivers of Potential 5G Use Cases (Source: GSMA)
4G provided a lot of lessons and continues to do so with data traffic growing by as much as 50%
per annum in many so called “mature” 4G markets. A key feature of 5G core once enabled is
the decoupling of radio types from the core, in addition to greater ability to manage whatever
radio services come along, including unlicensed radio. The 4G/5G tapestry will still be able
to avail of complimentary tools that pre-existed 5G but are also evolving and are now more
powerful and relevant than ever. For a start, as 5G absorbs some existing traffic, 4G radio itself
can become more effective. (Operators in the USA are already showing theoretical speeds of
over 400Mbit/s on evolved versions of 4G/LTE). Indeed optimised 4G radio networks could be
the key to answering subscribers’ insatiable thirst for more video content. With video expected
to account for over 75% of all mobile traffic by 2020 and limited 5G coverage for some time, the
strain on networks will intensify if operators wait for 5G to come to the rescue.
For some service providers relief will come through appropriate access network – be it Wi-Fi or cellular.
enhanced use of real-time data to determine These decisions can be based on device type,
the user’s status and usage characters within a location, subscription type, traffic type, available
more flexible hybrid network. The GSMA predicts access networks and a host of other information.
that only 14% of global mobile data will be on 5G The decision to move traffic from one network
in 2025 (GSMA 2018 Mobile Economy Report). to another is not just about signal strength – that
Of course it will be significantly higher in some is just one of the criteria. The ability to deliver
markets but the implication is that more traffic zero touch, seamless connection delivers the
will be on 4G for quite some time. Meantime best customer experience based on a particular
approximately 70% of all traffic is still over Wi-Fi. customer profile.
Wi-Fi will be around for a long time also and will
interwork with 3G, 4G and 5G. Formally, 3GPP By using congestion tools, locations or hotspots
is already recognising the need for interworking can be prioritised or blacklisted in real-time
with unlicensed spectrum, including Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi depending on how they are performing, and
development is of course already reacting to 5G individual users can be prioritised depending on
and becoming ever-more powerful. Wi-Fi version 6 their bundle. This can continue to make up for
will have theoretical speeds of over 10Gbit/s. holes in cellular coverage, such as in-building
coverage and in remote locations, as well as
But leveraging any resurgence of Wi-Fi as a provide an effective off-load solution for capacity
greater compliment to 4G and evolving 5G can management to maintain quality of experience (see
more fully occur if network congestion tools can Fig. 6). Such tools are already being used in the
be deployed by an operator. Adding a layer of market by operators such as Sprint who have been
intelligent decision making at the core ensures leaders in fine-tuning Radio Congestion Awareness
that customers are always connected to the most Function (RCAF) implementations.
Ultimately, after the initial hype of 5G launch, many end-users may not care too much which
network they use – as long as they can use their device in a way that meets their needs or
provides enjoyment. For the foreseeable future, previous generations of networks will need to
co-exist with the newer ones. With 5G likely to be deployed in a complimentary way to 4G and
3G, it is only by implementing the correct tools that operators will find their particular “secret
sauce” for an enhanced digital experience for subscribers during this transition. Failure to do
so could see subscriber experience significantly affected, leaving subscribers disenchanted
and even more likely to churn despite the existence of 5G. After all, if operators are to make a
return on the massive capital investment that is 5G, it all starts with ensuring subscribers are
happy and willing to stick around for as long as possible.
In order to fully capitalise on 5G, operators must be able to monitor, manage and make money from 5G
services in what is now a more complex service environment. Service examples and features depending
on this smarter core include:
Industrial virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) Industrial IoT use cases requiring analytics
requiring the ability to assign the session to a low- capabilities to identify anomalies in sensor traffic
latency network slice and the ability to evaluate the behaviour; the ability to support real-time
impact of the data traffic on that network slice over automation via closed loop policies and the
the course of the session, in real-time, as well as capability to charge based on variables such as data
the ability to assign a specific quality of service to consumption, guaranteed QoS or derived KPIs.
assure the VR/AR experience.
An open, richer, multifaceted set of business
VR/AR applications supporting mission-critical models that necessitate settlement among the
services such as fire and rescue, require an edge- operator and multiple other parties that require
based policy solution that is capable of supporting a flexible revenue management system able to
extremely high levels of network performance. charge on a real-time basis based on alternative
and flexible characteristics such as network slice
Ability to weigh multiple inputs, including subscriber requirements or quality of service. Services might
entitlements, content requirements, network include the rapid launch of low-latency multi-player
conditions and device characteristics, in making a gaming competitions involving 3rd party brands
policy decision automatically for services such as and only possible with 5G.
interactive gaming and ultra-HD video.
Real-time dynamic policy control beyond a standardised core network function that can be pushed closer
to the edge to rapidly support a plethora of rapidly evolving services, including ultra-low latency use cases.
Policy control which had become somewhat jaded in the eyes of some operators becomes central to the
story of 5G differentiation and control across what could otherwise become an overwhelming range of
service options.
Dynamic, non-siloed charging that can go way beyond charging for consumption, e.g. variable charging
for latency, availability, bandwidth, etc., as well as support alternate payment options such as PayPal and
Venmo and hybrid models in addition to traditional prepaid/postpaid.
The ability to support new business models by seamlessly integrating third parties into the operator
ecosystem via secure exposure of network services and capabilities, which enables new B2C and enterprise
pricing models, partner settlement, as well as enabling notifications, alerts, alarms and informative analytics
that will drive 5G business plans.
Advanced analytics and machine learning to drive better contextual inputs for policy and charging decisions
ranging from support for variable quality of service to network slice optimisation to early identification of
fraud or malware introduced by IoT devices.
5G SUCCESS
Viewing 5G as a simple evolution in speed or a set of standard functions would be a mistake that
could cost mobile operators dearly and hinder their ability to play in the digital services realm going
forward. 5G is not a “one size fits all”. As a result, competitive operators must deploy their 5G networks
strategically, with the best methods available, for their specific context. It must be with an eye to long-term
sustainability, competitiveness and value, for their particular market. It should mean a planned, service-
led migration with earlier 3G and 4G assets optimally interwoven with 5G and smartly upgraded where
necessary.
To cater to the digital mind shift associated with 5G, which will move users further from an ownership
mentality to favouring access and seamless, on-demand, as well as far richer experiences, a change is
needed. Simplifying and coordinating the way in which a wider set of offerings (the wider ecosystem,
including 3rd party content and partners) is enabled, controlled and monetised will be essential. It will
need to provide the desired level of real-time access, automation and service authorisation, as well as
flexible charging options for a plethora of new revenue sources and customer types. Ever smarter use of
data in this more complex and evolving tapestry will also be critical.
The most competitive migrations to 5G will need to be led from the outside-in and demand extreme
flexibility from new deployment and launch methods via a significantly smarter core, as well as new
partnerships that 5G supports by definition. To do anything else will be to under-use available 5G
resources. As well as amazing opportunities, 5G presents challenges for sure but just because something
is challenging doesn’t mean it has to be difficult.