Singapore’s StarHub has teamed up with Nokia to roll out a new cloud-native 5G core network to manage 5G standalone (SA) bandwidth in the city-state, just six months after they collaborated on the launch of non-standalone (NSA) 5G services for the business and mass-market segments.
With data demand projected to grow rapidly, Nokia confirmed in a press release that the 5G SA network rollout using the 3.5GHz band is well underway and ‘spans core, radio, software, security and professional services with a 5G SA data service launch for StarHub’s customers expected later this year’. The vendor noted that the upgrade will allow StarHub to operate 5G independently of existing 4G LTE network technology, simultaneously connecting ‘a vast number of devices and offer game-changing mobility solutions that thrive on ultra-high speed, low-latency, secure campus networking capabilities for the benefit of consumers, businesses and government agencies in Singapore’.