Approximately 30% of mobile service providers are already proactively planning to add 5G standalone capabilities to their networks, and another 9 percent say their companies will move directly to standalone, according to a new survey conducted by Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network.
Standalone 5G will require a whole new network core utilizing a cloud-native, virtualized, service-based architecture. Many respondents, in fact, say they are making significant progress toward network virtualization.
The new global study report, “Toward a More Secure 5G World,” which was developed in partnership with A10 Networks, finds that COVID-19 is not expected to significantly delay 5G deployments. The percentage of mobile service providers who say their companies are “moving rapidly toward commercial deployment” has increased significantly in the past year, climbing from 26 percent in a survey announced in early 2019 to 45 percent in the new survey. Virtually all respondents say improved security is a critical network requirement and top concern in the 5G era.
Among key findings of the survey:
- 81% say industry progress toward 5G is moving rapidly, mostly in major markets, or is at least in line with expectations.
- 71% expect to begin 5G network build-outs within 18 months, including one-third who have already begun or will do so in 2020.
- 95% percent say virtualizing network functions is important to their 5G plans, and some three-quarters say their companies are either well on their way or making good progress toward virtualization.
- 99% view deployment of mobile edge clouds as an important aspect of 5G networks, with 65% saying they expect edge clouds on their 5G networks within 18 months.
“Mobile operators globally need to proactively prepare for the demands of a new virtualized and secure 5G world,” said Gunter Reiss, worldwide vice president of A10 Networks, a provider of secure application services for mobile operators worldwide. “That means boosting security at key protection points like the mobile edge, deploying a cloud-native infrastructure, consolidating network functions, leveraging new CI/CD integrations and DevOps automation tools, and moving to an agile and hyperscale service-based architecture as much as possible. All of these improvements will pay dividends immediately with existing networks and move carriers closer to their ultimate goals for broader 5G adoption and the roll-out of new and innovative ultra-reliable low-latency use cases.”
“Our latest study indicates that major mobile carriers around the world are on track with their 5G plans, and more expect to begin commercial build-outs in the coming months,” said Dave Murray, director of thought leadership with the BPI Network. “While COVID-19 may result in some short-term delays for operators, the pandemic ultimately demonstrates a global need for higher speed, higher capacity 5G networks and the applications and use case they enable.”
Download the complimentary report at: http://bpinetwork.org/thought-leadership/studies/77/download-report-toward-a-more-secure-5g-world
