Vodafone UK is now making 5G standalone (5G SA) services available to enterprises both large and small "in some areas," as it banks on research that claims there is considerable appetite for the extra functionality enabled by 5G SA among UK-based companies.
The operator first launched 5G SA under the 5G Ultra banner in 2023 and said the service is now available in 23 cities and more than 300 locations across the UK.
It has just completed some research that found 39% of UK companies say they are now ready to invest in 5G SA, with 14% making the move within 12 months. The research was conducted internally by Vodafone, which surveyed 462 business customers (24% were Vodafone customers).
It seems that the majority of participating companies highlighted reliable data connections as the primary reason to invest in 5G SA, although Vodafone took pains to emphasize other benefits such as low latency and network slicing.
Nick Gliddon, business director at Vodafone UK, did not fail to seize the opportunity to stress yet again how the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three UK is essential to unlock investment in 5G.
"We launched the UK's first 5G standalone network in 2023. But to bring the benefits to everyone, we need consolidation – we cannot avoid a digital divide without it. Our proposed merger with Three UK is good for customers, good for competition and good for country. It will deliver much needed scale, better enabling us to deliver the benefits of 5G Ultra to all customers, regardless of where they live," Gliddon claimed.
Vodafone has long been insisting that 5G deployment in the UK will be at risk without the merger. It has used 5G investments as a key argument in its ongoing campaign to persuade the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to approve the proposed transaction. Meanwhile, the CMA has just extended the statutory deadline for its decision from October 12 to December 7.
Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle also recently upped the pressure on the CMA, telling the Guardian that things like artificial intelligence "cannot happen without good networks."
"All policymakers understand now the importance of having good quality networks. Look at Labour's manifesto, for example … nationwide 5G by 2030. There is no doubt that a catalyst is needed to get there because it's not going to be done [by the current market]," she said.
Vodafone and Three have said that the combination of the third- and fourth-largest players in the market is essential to drive investment and compete against BT/EE and Virgin Media O2.
Thin on the ground
Meanwhile, 5G SA is still spread relatively thinly around the world. According to June's edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, around 50 service providers have now launched 5G SA, out of 300 providers now offering 5G services.
In the UK, Virgin Media O2 launched 5G SA in 14 cities in February, while BT/EE has yet to officially switch on the service despite dropping several hints that a launch will take place later in 2024.
As recently as July, Greg McCall, chief networks officer at BT Group, said a "tremendous amount of work" is now taking place on EE's 5G SA network.
"We've already built and moved onto our new dual-mode 5G core, engineers are upgrading RAN sites up and down the country, and we're incrementally testing and tweaking to ensure that we deliver on our ambition to be the UK's best 5G SA network upon launch," McCall said.
Source: https://www.lightreading.com/5g/vodafone-uk-spins-up-standalone-5g-for-business-users