5G at Network Level - Are we Ready?

At this year's Voice&Data Telecom Leadership Forum, held on March 22, 2022, during a fireside chat, network architecture for 5G Rollout was discussed, excerpts below.

Ibrahim Ahmad, Consulting Editor, CyberMedia Group chatted with Jagbir Singh, CTO, Vodafone Idea on the alignment of current networks, challenges and opportunities for operators, the partnership needed at ecosystem level.

Jagbir Singh has built some of the biggest networks in the world. He has held senior leadership positions with multiple operators and brings over 32 years of experience in the industry.

His current role involves planning of network architecture, network lifecycle, engineering, deployment and operations.

Operators have invested big money in networks but are current networks compatible with 5G? Would a hybrid model of 4G and 5G work?

“Until 5G happens, we need a base coverage of 4G to support voice services,” said Jagbir Singh. Co-existence of both will continue for the next five to seven years. Similarly co-existence of radio access network or RAN for dual connectivity for 4G and 5G will happen.

5G is not as backward compatible as 3G and 4G were. This dual connectivity will ensure seamless coverage for the customer. Jagbir Singh also touched upon what happens when we divide RAN it into classical RAN and Open RAN where disintegration brings new outcomes.

“Whatever equipment Vodafone has deployed in the last five years is capable of being ready for 5G with a software upgrade. For OpenRAN, we have been doing trials and it is maturing with time. It is a good architecture for machine learning, data analytics and it is a flexible architecture. Most architectures today are classical but Open RAN is evolving fast.

However, classical architecture is equally capable of 5G services. 4G can continue to co-exist with 5G. So benefits of seamless coverage will continue.

The industry is deploying cloud-based architecture with virtual machines.

“We have Cloud systems which are fully ready to update to 5G. Having this network gave us flexibility and scalability.”

5G investments

Ibrahim asked, why -- not so long ago -- there was stiff opposition from operators as they had just finished investments in 3G and 4G?

Jagbir Singh explained that the industry has seen confidence with maturity of technology. All investments in infrastructure, equipment and transport is being done with a 5G-readiness in mind.

Specifications have become clearer. Pilots have been completed. This has sharpened understanding of technology. Proven technology across the globe helps to deepen this confidence. Of course, spectrum pricing is a challenge. There is also need for more fibre connectivity, robust transport networks, more base stations which all adds up to more Capex. “There is not too much upside on ARPU, so the challenge will remain,” he said.

5G enables Private networks.

Jagbir Singh explained that this can happen through slicing and we would get efficiency for spectrum-usage and capex optimisation. “Even devices are going to support eight slices. With different bandwidth for different uses with 5G.

On concerns about security and latency, Jagbir said, “Public networks are more secure due to regulatory aspects and compliance than private networks. Network slicing is highly secure as well. Slicing enables dedicated resources – making SLAs better. We also need to address redundancy in private networks with high degree of efficiency, reliability and security.”

The industry also needs enough money for Capex – in light of ARPU challenges. With the Make-in-India effort and fast 5G roll-out, we can navigate these aspects.

5G Power 

Jagbir shared lessons from trials in Pune and Gandhinagar by Vodafone Idea.

“Any use case is going to be part of an ecosystem – like network providers, integrators, device providers. All the use-cases will not come from vendors or operators but from the entire ecosystem. We learnt a lot too.”

Vodafone Idea implemented several projects like connected ambulances, remote medicine etc. with third-party applications. 5G provides native capability for low latency so it is best suited for AR, VR, Gaming etc.

“It will have a maturity curve. It will take some time,” he felt. It is ideal for B2B, remote education, remote healthcare, remote monitoring of infrastructure, factory automation, remote surveillance.

That said, how to make money and make these areas popular would be a challenge. But with industry collaboration and ecosystem co-operation – this would become possible.

Maturity level of technology, cloud-native investments, realistic pricing of spectrum, device availability in ecosystem, and ROI are issues that this industry and regulators need to address. But we have to begin at some point.