US operator Verizon started to move commercial traffic onto its cloud-native, software-defined 5G core in an attempt to scale up network capacity wherever it’s needed for new use cases.

A representative for Verizon stated to Mobile World Live (MWL) the mobile operator started its transition to 5G standalone (SA) core this year after conducting user trials and initial testing in 2021.

Early 5G launches have been based on non standalone 5G networks where a 5G radio network has been supported by a 4G core network. SA 5G networks are based on a 5G radio and core.

Analyst Jeff Kagan told MWL that 5G core was the next step in Verizon’s network evolution because it offers more flexibility and security.

Its 5G SA core was built on the internally-developed Verizon Cloud Platform, which is based on a webscale software architecture and IP-based technologies designed for mobile operators’ workloads.

The move to a 5G SA core is complex because operators need to re-architect their networks for cloud-native while also developing new interfaces, protocols, network functions and signalling with numerous vendor partners.

Verizon’s 5G SA core vendor partners include Red Hat and F5 Networks for webscale infrastructure; Qualcomm (device chipset support); Ericsson and Samsung (radio support); Ericsson, Casa Systems, Oracle and Nokia (5G core support); along with IBM  and HPE (service assurance and automation), among others, according to Verizon’s representative.

The benefit of cloud-native includes disaggregating software and hardware in the core to support the dynamic allocation of network resources when and wherever they’re needed.

In addition to 5G SA, Verizon’s 5G core will enable MEC, hybrid 4G and 5G non-standalone, network slicing, and voice over New Radio (VoNR) services.

New services

Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner told MWL that 5G SA core would open up the use of low-latency services in the sub-25 milliseconds range.

“This also allows Verizon a lot more flexibility for where they’re going to put 5G,” he stated, while noting that T-Mobile US is using its SA core to drive more 5G coverage in its 600MHz spectrum.

He also said Verizon’s 5G SA core will allow the operator to take advantage of all of the “goodies” in 3GPP’s Release 17 and Release 18.

“This is a big step”, he added. “It’s a bigger step than the move to [5G] new radio. Standalone core is hard.”

Entner stated he expects Verizon rival AT&T to deploy its 5G core by the end of this year or early next year.