Final June 2019 Vodafone launched the first 5G NSA (Non-stand alone) network in our nation. Two years have handed since then and now the British operator is as soon as once more marking a small nice milestone: the launch of the first 5G SA (stand alone) core network in Spain. It does so in a pre-commercial approach and with a small exclusivity: Samsung mobiles will likely be the first to entry.
As defined from Vodafone, the new pre-commercial 5G core network “consists of a brand new 5G core supplied by Ericcson” which is completely unbiased of the current 4G network. Allow us to keep in mind that there are two forms of 5G, NSA and SA, the first being a 5G primarily based on the 4G structure and the second an unbiased 5G that, in precept, ought to supply greater speeds, much less latency and bandwidth.
The first 5G SA network in Spain
With this launch, Vodafone turns into the first operator to launch a 5G SA network in Spain, though it does so at pre-commercial degree, that’s not but commercially obtainable to people. On the different hand, Vodafone affirms that this network will likely be accessible initially by way of Samsung mobiles. The particular fashions haven’t been revealed, however we do know that the terminals need to obtain an replace to be suitable with the 5G SA network.
Though we’ll nonetheless have to attend for the 5G SA network to succeed in all customers, the reality is that the operator has made a selective deployment in enterprise and industrial environments in the final yr. For instance, at the starting of the yr supplied 5G SA connectivity to a sentinel robotic in the “Robotic Covid 5G” mission that detected whether or not individuals have been carrying a masks and analyzed their physique temperature.
In any case, at a specific degree issues don’t change a lot. Launching the 5G SA network includes a major deployment of infrastructure and Vodafone has not ventured to present the date on which they count on to have it operational all through the nationwide territory. At the moment, the firm provides 5G NSA in 25 Spanish cities and it solely covers 50% of the inhabitants in them.
In response to Vodafone, the future improvement of the 5G SA network will permit the introduction of functionalities corresponding to Network Slicing (creation of personal networks for firms), Edge Computing (processing of knowledge nearer to the place it’s generated to cut back latency) and Provider Aggregation (provides two 5G carriers at the identical time), in addition to having potential purposes in augmented and digital actuality. An instance is the Nreal Gentle glasses that Vodafone launched a number of weeks in the past.
The 5G SA guarantees a obtain pace of no less than 20 Gbps
And what are the variations between the 5G NSA and SA? If we follow the 5G requirements of the 3GPP, the 5G SA ought to supply no less than 20 Gbps pace, a latency of 1 millisecond and assist for as much as a million units per sq. meter. The 5G NSA, for its half, stays in 2 Gbps downstream and a latency of 15 ms with an add pace restricted to 150 Mbps, which is the identical as 4G +.
Nevertheless, for its deployment to happen, it is going to be essential that the 700 MHz band was auctioned, an public sale that’s scheduled for subsequent July 21 and whose beginning value will likely be 955.50 million euros. Be that as it could, it appears that there’s nonetheless time for the 5G SA to be a actuality of the day after day, however right now it’s a little nearer.
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