Full Steam Ahead for 5G

at MWC

Paper based on GSA 5G research conducted at Mobile

World Congress, Barcelona, 2018

March 2018

©Copyright 2018 Global mobile Suppliers Association 1

 Introduction
This year’s Mobile World Congress – attended by 107,000 people over four
days at the end of February and beginning of March 2018 – was dominated by
5G, with announcements by most vendors regarding network infrastructure
and devices that are ready – or can be made ready – to help operators deliver
standards-compliant 5G services. Operators too were keen to showcase the
progress they are making, but while they recognise the need for 5G, several
remain somewhat cautious about the business case for 5G investment and
The key message about the potential for profitable new services.
from Mobile
World Congress The standardisation process is still running its course, but some functional
on 5G is that specifications are already known, and some critical 5G enabling technologies,
the technology
such as network slicing and massive MIMO, do not need full standardisation
is progressing
faster than before they can be deployed and used: indeed, many exhibitors emphasised
anyone expected the capabilities of their products to support evolving 4G networks while laying
this time last the foundations for 5G networks.
year, with
developments Other GSA reports and papers from its members (all available through www.
in the core and
gsacom.com) examine broader progress towards 5G; in this brief paper we
the RAN, and
large-scale trials round up some of the most significant announcements made at MWC.
and commercial
deployments Key areas of 5G progress
happening all
over the world We have grouped the most significant announcements made at MWC 2018 into
four areas, shown in the figure below. Significant progress in using millimetre
wave spectrum was in evidence, both for base stations and in chipsets / devices.

Figure 1: Key areas of 5G progress at MWC 2018

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 This view of what’s important was confirmed by the big network equipment
providers. Typical was Huawei, which in a pre-MWC briefing, identified the
following 5G ‘to do’ list:

•• Modernise base station sites ready for new spectrum.

•• Prepare and upgrade the transport network, including providing
400GbE links (400 Gigabit Ethernet) in the core and 5GbE links in metro
networks … and this will take longer to do than a RAN upgrade.
•• Automate network operations to address the complexity of 5G.
•• Cloudification of core and edge networks.

Network slicing in the core and RAN

One of the key enabling technologies for 5G will be systems that can create an
application-oriented network slice from appropriate resources, which has the
network attributes required by the application. Major vendors all stressed their
ability to deliver a network slice end-to-end using their network infrastructure,
which is increasingly virtualised, cloudified (separating control plane and user
plane), and based on micro-services architectures.

Significant statements, announcements and demonstrations relating to network

slicing included the following.

Nokia said its Bell Labs R&D division has quantified the benefits of single-
vendor, end-to-end 5G networks in terms of total cost of ownership, service
reliability and speed to market for new services; many of the benefits relate to
the ability of such E2E networks to ensure that network slicing works properly
and quickly. It anticipates significant integration challenges with multi-vendor
networks.

Huawei and Telefónica demonstrated an interactive virtual reality (VR) service

delivered over a network slice created on Telefonica’s virtualised 4G EPC and
a 5G New Radio access network using Huawei base stations operating at
3.7GHz spectrum. http://www.huawei.com/en/press-events/news/2018/2/5G-
Slicing-based-Interactive-VR-Service Huawei also explained why it believes
an all-cloud architecture is needed with control and user plane separation to
provide maximum resource deployment flexibility for operators http://www.
huawei.com/en/press-events/news/2018/2/Huawei-Launches-Full-Range-of-
5G-End-to-End-Product-Solutions

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 ZTE demonstrated two slices (for HD video in enhanced mobile broadband
applications, and for ultra-reliable, low-latency communications) delivered on its
end-to-end network where slices are created using automated orchestration of
its cloud-based core network and 5G RAN equipment. http://www.zte.com.cn/
global/about/press-center/news/2018ma-Feb/2-28-3 ZTE also strongly promoted
core virtualisation (including containerisation), stressing its strategy to help
operators to replace IMS and EPC networks, by porting previous generations
of services on to a 5G core – while retaining old core network boxes. It pointed
to work with Airtel in India, Veon (Vimpelcom) in Russia, Telenor and China
Telecom on core network upgrades http://www.zte.com.cn/global/about/press-
center/news/2018ma-Feb/2-28-4

Ericsson and Swisscom demonstrated the creation of network slices within 4G

and 5G networks for railway communications (both critical communications,
enabled by QoS control, and non-critical communications). https://www.
ericsson.com/en/press-releases/2018/2/ericsson-and-swisscom-demonstrate-
network-slicing-for-critical-communications Ericsson also promoted the results
of a study with BT that shows 40% core network cost reduction and potential
revenue growth of 35% from using network slicing; Ericsson’s work is focusing
on making the network more resilient and flexible using cloud principles and
a mix of centralised, distributed and edge resources.

Base station upgrades

Vendors are making very fast progress on readying their portfolios of base
stations for 5G. This progress extends from software upgrades for existing
base stations, through new hardware to support increased data throughput
and new types of services, to development of small cells that can deliver the
coverage.

Nokia stressed the performance of its new ReefShark chipset, developed

internally to underpin the company’s 5G network infrastructure. It pointed
out the need for new high-performance silicon in base stations so that they
can deal with the data rates that will be associated with 5G. Nokia says it has a
technology lead in this area, and that ReefShark, which incorporates Artificial
Intelligence (AI) capabilities to support automated network slicing, is some
way ahead of the competition. ReefShark chips, which will ship in Q3 2018,
can be plugged into Nokia’s AirScale base stations, which are 5G capable and
software-upgradeable.

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 Huawei showed a broad range of 5G base stations to suit multiple site options,
covering 3.5GHz (C-band), mmWave and sub-3GHz bands. The company
pointed out the range of field trials it had been involved with and the number
of units deployed in those trials, as well as the performance achieved and the
design features for ease of installation. It was particularly keen to position its
indoor 5G base stations as a replacement for passive and active DAS antenna
systems. http://www.huawei.com/en/press-events/news/2018/3/Full-Scenario-
5G-Wireless-Product-Solutions

Ericsson announced that it is working with 30 operators on 5G projects in 2018,

including Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, and that all its base stations delivered
since 2015 were software-upgradeable to 5G. It also showed a 5G version of
its Radio Dot indoor small cell. Ericsson’s 5G base stations for T-Mobile will
support 600MHz, 28GHz and 39GHz https://www.ericsson.com/en/press-
releases/2018/2/ericsson-and-t-mobile-to-deploy-multi-band-nationwide-5g-
network and it announced it would be working with Chunghwa Telecom to trial
4G/5G interoperability, including using 28GHz and 3.5GHz bands with a view
to a commercial 5G network launch in 2020. https://www.ericsson.com/en/
news/2018/2/ericsson-and-chunghwa-telecom-bring-5g-to-taiwan-early-2019

Samsung, which was promoting its expertise in 28GHz 5G, and its FWA work
with Verizon, and with operators in Korea, showed its 5G base stations that
make use of Samsung’s own chipsets, and feature 1024 element antenna arrays.
The company was keen to stress the LoS range of its 28GHz equipment, which
it said was 1.5km using high Tx power, but in RAN design was limited to less
than 1km for 5G applications requiring low latency. The company says it has
built a 28GHz RAN planning tool that incorporates AI.

ZTE showed an extensive portfolio of 5G and 4G/5G dual-mode base stations,

including a compact (20 litre, 18kg) unit developed for the Japanese market
(suitable for 28GHz or 26GHz spectrum) that supports 800MHz bandwidth,
and units that can be used with 4.5GHz, 3.7GHz and 3.5GHz spectrum. http://
www.zte.com.cn/global/about/press-center/news/2018ma-Feb/2-26-3

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 Device chipsets and devices
Among announcements billed as ‘world’s first commercial …’ were the following:
Qualcomm reported that its Snapdragon X50 modem, announced before MWC,
had been chosen by more than a dozen device OEMs. The modem supports
the 28GHz frequency band and will deliver multimode 4G/5G capability with
dual-connectivity. Qualcomm demonstrated its interoperability work with
multiple network equipment vendors and also exhibited a prototype 5G NR
chipset for sub-6GHz spectrum.
Intel made two important 5G device chipset announcements. First, a
collaboration with Spreadtrum and RDA to develop 5G device platforms
for the Chinese market (using an Intel modem). https://newsroom.intel.com/
articles/intel-unigroup-spreadtrum-rda-announce-5g-collaboration/ Second,
a collaboration with various PC makers on providing its XMM 8060 and other
8000 series 5G modems for 5G laptops expected to reach the market in 2H
2019 (a concept device was shown) https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-
5g-communications-2-in-1
Samsung confirmed that it has made commercially available a 5G chipset
and modem that will power 28GHz home CPE (as well as RAN equipment); it
announced that its new 5G home routers (with indoor and outdoor variants)
for US FWA applications had been granted FCC approval https://news.samsung.
com/us/samsung-unveils-first-5g-fwa-commercial-solutions-mwc2018 Samsung
also showed its 28GHz tablet prototype, announced earlier in February 2018
Matching Samsung blow for blow, Huawei announced 5G CPE in sub-6GHz
and mmWave variants, and for indoor and outdoor use in FWA applications.
The CPE is powered by a commercial 5G chipset (Balong 5G01) from Huawei’s
HiSilicon subsidiary; the chipset supports theoretical downlink speeds of
2.3Gbit/s. http://www.huawei.com/en/press-events/news/2018/2/5G-Customer-
premises-Equipment Huawei also announced interoperability trials with Intel.
MediaTek announced a partnership with China Mobile to develop 5G terminals
for delivery (pre-commercial) in 2019. The company was promoting its 5G
baseband solution that will support Rel-15 NR in SA and NSA modes and
sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrum. https://www.mediatek.com/news-events/
press-releases/mediatek-and-china-mobile-announce-collaboration-to-develop-
5g-devices-for-pre-commercial-launch-in-2019
ZTE announced it would have 5G devices ready for commercial launch by the
end of 2018 or early 2019.

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 Business cases
Many of the most interesting comments on 5G business cases at MWC came
from operators.

Deutsche Telekom raised the point that 4G networks could deliver much
of what the industry thought 5G would be needed for, in terms of increased
capacity and lower latency – though ultimately, further capacity increases
would be needed – and that this is largely an issue of spectrum availability. The
company’s spokesperson also stressed the importance of considering network
OPEX and spectral efficiency when delivering extra capacity, and pointed out
that in Europe, with its large deployed fibre base, the FWA case was not as
compelling as in some other markets – and that commercial models for use
cases related to industrial networks would need careful thought: how should
QoS, slicing and the other beneficial features of 5G be charged for so that 5G
works for operators and customers?

NTT DoCoMo was optimistic about the eMBB use case, pointing out that its
deployment of Rel-15-spec networks ahead of its planned 2020 service launch
target were progressing well. The operator showed a carefully thought-through
migration strategy from 4G to 5G, showing how NSA mode and SA mode would
be progressively deployed – and pointing out that a new 5G core network
would not be needed straight away as the most important eMBB use case
could be supported well with the existing core and the control plane can be
ported on to a new core when needed. But in addition, DoCoMo is partnering
with many companies in multiple verticals to co-create business cases for 5G.

China Mobile said it was investing in a network that could support slices and
leverage mobile edge computing resources to support multiple use cases – it
is optimistic that there are many business cases that can be built for mobile-
internet-based services – and it has chosen the 3.5GHz band, with some use of
4.9GHz spectrum, as the best way to deliver suitable coverage. China Mobile
said its extensive trials (in 17 cities, with 2000 terminals and 1100 gNBs) were
evaluating nine use cases and eleven services. The trials serve to promote an
ecosystem as well as to verify key technologies and learn how to build a 5G
network quickly.

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 Telstra said it would have a commercial 5G network in major cities during 2019,
using a mix of millimetre wave and sub-6GHz spectrum; its network will be
rolled out during 2018, and will not stand alone from 4G – part of the reason
for rolling out the network is to build on the use case development work that
has so far been conducted in smaller scale lab and field trials.

Overall during MWC, there appeared consensus on he following important

issues.

There are some special cases that have led to early work in 5G network
deployment – some for commercial services; some for extensive technical
and service trials – including US FWA broadband coverage using available
high-frequency spectrum and government initiatives based around sporting
events (in South Korea and Japan) and to support industrial automation (for
instance in China). Many expressed the view that there was a race between
China and the US to deploy 5G at scale and that apart from some Nordic
countries, European operators would lag behind the rest of the world in 5G
deployment.

Elsewhere, some business cases seem hard to make – especially for those
45 commercial relating to IoT where existing networks seem likely to be more cost-competitive
mobile
processors/ for many of the massive machine-type communications (MTC) requirements –
platforms and 10 and for innovative applications of public cellular networks related to the bigger
cellular modems ‘megatrend’ of digitising businesses of many kinds. (However, it should be
support eMBMS
noted that some vendors – such as Ericsson – were bullish about the business
benefits to operators of automation generally.)

The enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) business cases – with their requirement
for capacity – seem most likely to be operators’ priority. However, while the
demand is understood, the cost of spectrum in markets where it is a traded
asset, is a critical factor – and operators will be looking to vendors to help them
minimise CAPEX and OPEX for 5G. Vendors recognise this, with Ericsson for
instance stating that it understood that 4G should be used as a foundation to
build the business cases for 5G, which are at present not fully worked through.
The enabling technologies of Massive MIMO and network slicing are critical
here. Vendors though are confident that early adopters will benefit most from
5G investment.

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 The relationship between 5G and edge computing is clear when it comes to
building business cases: many of the new uses for 5G networks over and above
the capabilities of 4G rely on the availability of local computing resources:
5G and mobile edge computing (MEC) will walk in lock-step over the next
few years. One intriguing business case suggestion came from ZTE: ‘latency-
as-a-service’ – essentially, the provision of a network slice and appropriate
resources for latency-sensitive applications – making use of its ability to spin
up a new network slice in under a minute and activate that slice within 2ms.

Conclusion
The key message from Mobile World Congress on 5G is that the technology is
progressing faster than anyone expected this time last year, with developments
in the core and the RAN, and large-scale trials and commercial deployments
happening all over the world.

Thanks to huge efforts from chipset companies in developing modems and

processors suitable for the multiple frequency bands being used for 5G, devices
are available to support some early use cases – notably FWA – with devices for
mobile applications set to be commercial by the end of 2018 or early in 2019.

While some concerns remain in some markets about the best way to manage
the balance of investment with the potential for new revenues, the momentum
in 5G seems unstoppable.

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 About GSA
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