One can learn from others’ experience: How should the radio and television 5G core network be deployed?

In 2019, China Radio and Television, together with China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, obtained the 5G commercial license issued by the state, officially becoming one of the four major operators. In 2020, when the three telecom operators are promoting 5G commercialization on a large scale, China Radio and Television's main task is to integrate its assets through the joint-stock company to achieve "one country, one chessboard" and promote network construction cooperation with China Mobile.

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Entering 2021, China Radio and Television's asset integration progressed smoothly, and it signed a 5G strategic cooperation agreement with China Mobile, officially launching the joint construction and sharing of the 700MHz 5G network. Song Qizhu, chairman of China Radio and Television, publicly stated during MWC Shanghai that the large-scale construction of the 700MHz 5G network will be launched this year, and a safe, reliable, green, trustworthy, agile and intelligent 5G network will be built with a high starting point and high standards.

The high-standard 700MHz 5G network requires a high-quality 5G core network as its foundation. How will China Radio and Television build its own 700MHz 5G core network? The author discusses this from an industry perspective, combining the construction ideas of the three telecom operators.

Analysis of the thinking of three telecom operators

It is understood that compared with previous generations of core networks, the 5G core network has not only evolved in terms of services, but also undergone disruptive changes in technology, transforming from the original traditional equipment to a new architecture based on NFV/SDN, and shifting the application focus to the 2B market, making it necessary for the business model to achieve cross-generational changes at the same time. Therefore, the 5G core network can be regarded as the generation with the greatest commercial challenges among all generations of networks.

Before the official network construction, the three existing telecom operators conducted extensive and long-term testing and verification of the 5G core network, and determined their respective commercial network construction plans based on this series of research. In the field of mobile communications, China Radio and Television is a "latecomer" and does not have much construction experience. Therefore, the 5G core network construction ideas of the three telecom operators are worthy of China Radio and Television's research and analysis, and its experience should be used for its own benefit.

There are four main considerations for 5G core network construction: regional or provincial system; 2B/2C separate construction or shared construction; cloud computing decoupling mode; and whether it is built by multiple manufacturers.

Among them, China Mobile took into account the full cloudification of the 5G core network and adopted a deployment architecture in eight regions across the country to give full play to the advantages of cloud resource sharing. For 2B/2C, the business differences are large, 2B business has great uncertainty and many new functions. Independent network construction is conducive to business development, but it consumes more investment. After comprehensive consideration, China Mobile chose to build two separate 5G core networks. For cloud computing decoupling, China Mobile chose a two-layer decoupling solution. Finally, to ensure the overall security of the network, China Mobile chose multi-vendor deployment.

As an established operator, China Telecom has traditionally built core networks based on provinces, with a mature and stable personnel organizational structure. Therefore, the 5G core network has adopted the provincial system, which has low costs, the fastest speed, and the lowest risk. For 2B/2C, China Telecom also basically adopted a shared network construction model for stability considerations. For cloud computing and decoupling, China Telecom also chose the same hardware and software manufacturers in the early stage to quickly build the network. Based on security and industrial chain development considerations, China Telecom chose a multi-manufacturer construction method.

After the "mixed reform", China Unicom has selected the "6+2" regional deployment architecture in terms of construction ideas. On the issue of whether 2B/2C should build independent networks, China Unicom has adopted the 2B independent network construction strategy. For cloud computing decoupling, China Unicom has chosen a two-layer decoupling solution. In terms of security, similar to China Mobile and China Telecom, China Unicom has selected multiple equipment manufacturers to build its 5G core network.

The road to advancement of the 5G core network of radio and television

It can be seen that the three telecom operators have both differences and similarities in several key aspects of 5G core network construction. The similarities are: cloud deployment/two-layer decoupling, multi-vendor construction; the differences are regional and provincial systems, whether the software and hardware are from the same manufacturer, and whether 2B/2C share network resources.

Among the three differences, the first one lies in "architectural innovation" and "maintaining stability"; the second one is faster deployment and lower cost; and the third one is development considerations in the face of uncertainty in 2B business.

As a new mobile operator, China Radio and Television has a unique advantage over the three telecom operators: it has no historical baggage and can build a 5G core network with ease. Therefore, for issues such as cloud deployment and multi-vendor construction, China Radio and Television can learn from the experience of the three major operators and adopt the same approach. For the latter differences, it can make choices based on its own network characteristics, and there is no need to completely copy the network construction model of its partner China Mobile.

First, without any historical baggage, China Radio and Television can adopt a regional system to build a 5G core network. Using a simple architecture to achieve full cloudification in one step is the most appropriate approach.

Second, whether the hardware and software should be from the same manufacturer. Two-layer decoupling means that the hardware and software can be purchased separately, which brings flexibility, but also increases the complexity of delivery and operation and maintenance. Using the same manufacturer can greatly reduce the complexity of delivery and operation and maintenance, and shorten the time to commercial launch. In order to speed up the deployment of 5G networks, China Radio and Television can use the same manufacturer for deployment of hardware and software in the early stage to reduce the excessive requirements for personnel skills and ensure the deployment and launch time.

Third, as to whether to build a shared network. 5G investment is large, and China Radio and Television needs to carefully consider the cost. In the case of high uncertainty in the development of 2B business, the investment in 2B independent network construction is large, and choosing 2B/2C integrated shared network construction in the initial stage is a sound choice.

It can be seen that there is nothing wrong with the network construction ideas and concepts of the three telecom operators. They are all the results of the best adaptation to their own situations. For China Radio and Television, it should refer to the experience of the three operators and combine its own advantages to choose the most suitable 5G core network construction model. In my opinion, the most important consideration is the rapid launch of the 5G core network of radio and television and the support of 5G large-scale commercial use as soon as possible. The battle for 5G has already begun.