Page 52 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2022

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Nokia and Proximus Deliver 5G Network Slicing

Innovation to Support Demanding Network
Conditions

Nokia and Proximus have announced bandwidth when connected individually 5G NSA, and 5G SA devices, enabling
that they have successfully enhanced and reached the assigned capacity when mobile operators to utilize a huge device
the performance of 5G network slicing in connected simultaneously. The successful ecosystem and provide slice continuity
demanding network conditions through the trial assigned specific radio resources over 4G and 5G. Several live network
use of radio software-defined networking per slice which were complemented with deployments and trials have already taken
and radio resource allocation technologies. further radio capabilities to reduce latency place with Nokia's global customer base
During a live trial at Proximus’ 5G Innovation for slices with time-sensitive applications. including deployments of new slicing
Lab in Brussels, real-life applications were It also highlighted how an operator can capabilities such as edge slicing in Virtual
used to demonstrate how a consistent control and dynamically adapt slice Private Networks, LTE-NSA-SA end-to-end
customer experience can be ensured under parameters in general and in particular network slicing, Fixed Wireless Access
congested network conditions. New 5G set the radio resources per slice. Radio slicing, Sliced Private Wireless as well
RAN slicing functionality brings benefits to resource allocation technologies can be as Slice Management Automation and
a wide range of use cases such as Industry used in a radio network shared between Orchestration. Proximus delivers a quality
4.0, IoT and enterprise applications such as multiple operators. Nokia's slice-aware mobile network and nationwide mobile
public safety and drone inspection as well radio resource allocation can be applied coverage to its customers in Belgium. This
as virtual and augmented reality and cloud for 5G SA slices and 5G NSA traffic. It trial supports the company's ambition to
gaming. The solution is available now for also complements the capabilities already be a leading mobile network innovator. In
trials and will be commercially available available in LTE providing seamless addition to its comprehensive expertise as
in Q3 for 5G standalone. The trial was continuity between 4G and 5G networks. a leading 5G player in Belgium, Proximus
performed on the Proximus 5G innovation Radio software-defined networking enables offers additional support, together with
platform using 50Mhz of spectrum in real-time management of RAN resources, its affiliates, in complementary fields
the 3600MHz band based on Nokia’s 5G schedulers, quality of service, security, ranging from security and intelligent cloud
AirScale base station. It combined new traffic isolation, and routing required solutions to artificial intelligence and IoT.
advanced RAN slicing functionalities in the especially to customize a slice to the Geert Standaert, CTO, Proximus, said:
base station with radio software-defined specific need of the business applications “We are delighted to have completed this
networking (SDN) technology to enable and/or use case. It can be applied for network slicing trial with Nokia which will
the real-time management of slices and 4G/5G slicing and edge slicing. Nokia is the support our customers with enhanced
network performance. Three devices were industry leader in 4G/5G network slicing network slicing capabilities that will keep
configured on three end-to-end slices and was the first to demonstrate 4G/5G key services running smoothly even at
configured respectively with 60, 30, and 10 network slicing across RAN-Transport-Core demanding or busy times. Our advanced
percent of available bandwidth resources. with management and assurance. Nokia’s 5G network supports our customers'
Each device reached the maximum network slicing solution supports all LTE, business by enabling new kinds of services
and making the network more efficient.
We will continue to develop innovations
and the latest applications, as our mission
is to bring the opportunities of 5G to our
customers.” Tommi Uitto, President of
Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “This
trial with our partner, Proximus, is the
latest development in our pioneering
network slicing story. We have focused
on delivering a consistent slice-specific
customer experience that performs under
any circumstances or network conditions.
We have achieved another key milestone
with this project and delivered innovative
new functionality that helps our customers
create compelling new services.”

52 MAY-JUNE 2022