For mobile operators, there’s a lot to like about network slicing. For starters, it enables their 5G networks to support a much more comprehensive range of use cases and customer types, which opens the door for more revenue opportunities.
These opportunities couldn’t come at a better time. Between spectrum and infrastructure, mobile operators have each spent billions to launch 5G, and they’ll spend billions more over the next decade expanding and upgrading those networks. To recoup that investment, operators will have to get creative, which means more than simply trying to convince consumers to pay more for 5G than 4G.
Slicing is key to unlocking new revenue opportunities in the enterprise market and, in turn, making 5G profitable. Take the example of a media company that provides live broadcast coverage of Formula 1 races. Using the mobile operator’s self-service portal, the media company can order its own race day network slice, a dedicated network for the event by defining parameters such as bandwidth, latency, and jitter. The order then triggers the activation of the slice, and the media company can start using it. This enables new business models, seamless activation by enterprises, and an experience of ordering and owning a private 5G network like any other web-based service.
The self-service portal aspect also highlights how this entire process can — and should — be fully automated. Eliminating overhead costs such as manual provisioning and activation further increases profitability.
Slicing provides a means for operators to monetize their 5G investment with significantly lower risk than 4G because each slice is segregated to ensure it can consume only the resources allocated and cannot impact other slices. This architecture enables each slice to be deployed according to each customer’s unique requirements.
For example, an emergency services slice would be allocated with higher availability and higher quality of service compared with a smart metering slice that requires many concurrent sessions but relatively low bandwidth at a lower priority. Additionally, slicing reduces the risk when introducing and implementing new services and provides easier migrations because new technologies or architectures can be implemented in isolated slices.
Mapping a slicing strategy
Considering all the business benefits, why isn’t every operator making slicing part of their 5G strategy from day one? The short answer is that it takes a daunting amount of expertise to implement slicing correctly. The technical challenges under the hood require bringing together several technologies including networks, automation, data, and device management.
Part of the challenge is that many operators are freeing themselves from vendor lock-in by leveraging the disaggregation and virtualization inherent in 5G architecture. The price of this freedom is integrating disparate hardware and software from multiple vendors.
As a result, some operators are partnering with systems integrators on proof-of-concept trials to determine whether all of the necessary technologies are mature enough to support enterprise-grade slicing. As slicing evolves, the end game will be a fully automated system that enables a variety of scenarios.
Today, most operators are in the early virtualization stage, where rolling out a new slice takes a significant amount of time. This is because all planning, designing, and rollout must be done manually. With end-to-end automation, however, a new slice can be launched in 30 minutes or less. And hyperscalers will play an increasingly key role as operators evolve their networks under this roadmap.
Hyperscalers see slicing, disaggregation, and virtualization as opportunities for them to extend their footprint inside operators. Some hyperscalers want to offer both their public cloud platform and their on-premise solution. Network slicing allows the operator to introduce new, specialty vendors for functions and services on their network to unlock new business opportunities. This increases the flexibility of offer creation without impacting the main consumer network.
Hyperscalers also enable operators to implement slicing faster than if they did everything on-prem. That’s always been a benefit of the cloud, but it’s even more valuable today because of chip shortages, which make it difficult for operators to source the necessary compute hardware.
Evolution to fully automated Network-as-a-Service
Network slicing provides a foundation on which operators can build out their digital capabilities to enable a fully automated network as a service (NaaS) business model for their clients. This strategy can leverage other key 5G enablers, such as network analytics for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) operations across the full range of service elements, from access and transport to core and edge.
While network slicing may be a daunting prospect for some operators, it makes commercial sense and opens the door to a number of opportunities. Thanks to 5G’s open architecture, operators have an opportunity to integrate a range of hardware, software and work with an ecosystem to map the journey ahead to secure new revenue streams.
