5G ToB development enters a golden period, and industry-specific networks enable digital transformation

[[386226]]

1. Introduction

With the vigorous promotion of 5G applications by the new infrastructure, 5G has basically met the needs of C-end users. The greatest value of 5G lies in the B-end. Miao Wei, former Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, once said that about 20% of 5G application scenarios are ToC and 80% are ToB, and the breakthrough point of the 5G ToB market is to "deploy 5G private networks for various industries first." GSMA predicts that 5G connections will reach 1.7 billion in 2025, accounting for 20% of the total connections, and industry applications will account for 54% of the entire cellular connections, and industry private network deployment is expected to reach 25%-40%. Therefore, the integrated application of 5G private networks and vertical industries will become a business blue ocean and new economic growth point for the future development of operators and industries.

2. Concept of 5G Private Network

The original meaning of 5G private network is to achieve network signal coverage in a specific area and provide communication services to specific users, which is a professional network that meets the business model of specific content service providers (SP). Different from public networks, 5G private networks have many characteristics such as differentiated local services, customizable network construction costs, flexible security management and control, and personalized self-service. 5G private networks can be realized in the following two ways: the first is to deploy a physically isolated 5G private network (island), which is independent of the 5G public network of telecom operators; the second is to build a 5G private network by sharing the 5G public network resources of telecom operators, and the operator will build a dedicated 5G network for the enterprise.

To this end, there are multiple starting points for building 5G private network solutions:

① The enterprise independently builds its own network based on the private network frequency band, which is completely isolated from the public network

The networking model in which enterprises independently apply for frequency bands and independently build a complete set of independent 5G core networks, 5G base stations and other networks has high controllability and low latency while ensuring data security. However, the deployment cost is high, and some professional operation and maintenance personnel are needed to maintain the network in the later stage, which is basically unaffordable for small enterprises.

② Public network with integrated private network functions (non-slicing)

Similar to the first model, the difference is that the enterprise uses the operator's 5G public network's authorized spectrum (using spectrum leasing and other methods) to build a network completely separated from the 5G public network, including a complete 5G private network of core network, base station and MEC. The disadvantage is still the high cost.

③ Public network with integrated private network functions (slicing)

The 5G private network and the public network share the gNB on the RAN side. In this deployment mode, the service data traffic is split on the gNB. The split is achieved through 5G network slicing. The service data traffic belonging to the private slice (private network) is transmitted to the private UPF, while the service data traffic belonging to the public slice (public network) is delivered to the public network UPF of the power operator.

④ Fully share 5G public network resources

The 5G private network completely shares 5G public network resources from the core network to the base station, creating a completely end-to-end "virtual private network".

Comparative analysis of various solutions for 5G private networks

3. Advantages of 5G Private Network

The existing implementation methods of industry wireless private networks are mainly based on narrowband Internet of Things, Wi-Fi networks, and proprietary frequency band LTE local area networks. Among them, the mobility of narrowband Internet of Things devices is limited, which is not convenient for practical application; industrial-grade Wi-Fi has poor stability and security due to the limitations of technical principles and cannot meet the actual industry needs; LTE proprietary frequency band terminal modules need to be customized and developed in actual applications, and have no scale advantages, which will lead to very high costs; in addition, some wireless private networks use non-3GPP standards, which have many restrictions and slow technology updates, and cannot keep up with the evolution of industry applications.

5G private networks have many advantages, including large bandwidth, wide connection, low latency, and high security. At the same time, 5G private networks have the characteristics of regionalized deployment, personalized network requirements, and industry application scenarios. 5G private networks have the following four advantages:

The deployment scope is regionalized and can be used in closed usage scenarios, such as manufacturing parks, ports, mines, etc.

The network requirements are personalized, with strict requirements on latency, reliability, uplink rate, data security and isolation, etc. The network slicing, edge computing, and NFV/SDN in the 5G private network enable flexible deployment of campus networks;

Industry application scenarios: 5G networks will deploy computing power nearby and provide open capabilities for different industry scenarios;

It can be compatible and interoperable with existing IT networks, and network capabilities and technologies will continue to evolve and upgrade.

4. 5G Private Network Related Policies

1. Foreign policies: Providing 5G private network spectrum to non-operator companies

Germany: In November 2019, the German Federal Network Agency issued the "Frequency Assignment Management Regulations for the 3700-3800MHz Frequency Band for Regional Wireless Networks", proposing to divide the 100MHz bandwidth between 3.7GHz and 3.8GHz into a "local frequency band" for allocation to vertical industries and deployment of local 5G private networks in parks and factories.

Japan: In December 2019, Japan proposed a dual-track development strategy of "5G public network + Local 5G" and announced that vertical industries can apply for Local 5G frequency licenses.

South Korea: In January 2021, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology of South Korea stated that it will invest 165.5 billion won (US$150 million) to develop new business technologies integrating 5G and provide 5G private network spectrum to companies other than telecom operators this year.

2. National level: Promote 5G private network technology research and pilot development, and explore 5G private network construction and operation models

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: In March 2020, it issued the "Notice on Promoting the Accelerated Development of 5G", proposing to organize research and pilot projects on 5G industry virtual private networks to achieve smooth connections between key links such as standards, technologies, applications, and deployment.

Industrial Internet Special Working Group: In January 2021, the Industrial Internet Innovation and Development Action Plan (2021-2023) was released, proposing to explore the construction and operation model of 5G private networks, plan 5G industrial Internet dedicated frequencies, and carry out industrial 5G private network pilots.

3. Provincial and municipal level: Explore the coverage of 5G private networks in government affairs, Internet of Vehicles, industry, emergency response, energy, ports and other industries

Beijing: 2020.06, strengthen the construction of 5G private network infrastructure, improve the coverage and carrying capacity of government private networks; improve 1.4G private network coverage and enhance broadband digital cluster service capabilities

Hefei: August 2020, build 5G private networks in key industries and fields such as manufacturing, public safety, energy networking, emergency management, medical education, and professional parks;

Shenzhen: 2020.12, focusing on the needs of users in specific industries, and targeting local and wide areas in industrial parks, ports, security, power grids, government affairs, emergency response, etc., a number of industry-specific networks with high service quality, excellent economic benefits, and strong security capabilities will be built. 2021.01, on the basis of realizing 5G city-level independent networking, a communication network infrastructure system covering "5G+Gigabit optical network+smart private network+satellite network+Internet of Things" will be built, and the construction of 5G government-specific network, 1.4GHz wireless broadband private network and 1.8GHz industry-specific network will be accelerated.

Guangzhou Province: 2021.01, build 5G private networks in key industries and fields such as government services, power grids, public security, emergency management, shipping, petrochemicals, rail transit, and professional parks, and carry out the construction of 5G private network experimental networks.

5. 5G private network construction models of the three major operators

1. China Telecom: 5G customized network with cloud-network collaboration of "Zhiyuan", "Bilin" and "Ruyi"

China Telecom provides three types of customized network service models: "Zhiyuan", "Bilin" and "Ruyi", among which "Zhiyuan" is a virtual private network, "Bilin" is a hybrid private network, and "Ruyi" is a physical private network. Through customized "5G+edge+cloud+X" integrated services, it fully meets the end-to-end digital needs of customers in different industries during the information transformation and upgrading process.

Zhiyuan: Wide area access, cloud-network integration. Based on 5G network resources, through QoS, DNN customization, slicing and other technologies, we provide end-to-end differentiated network connection, industry application and other services for wide area priority industry customers.

Bilin: Local processing, cloud-edge collaboration. Through multi-frequency collaboration, carrier aggregation, super uplink, edge nodes, wireless resource reservation and other technologies, it provides bandwidth enhancement, low latency, and data local offloading proprietary network services for latency-sensitive government and enterprise customers, and cooperates with MEC and Tianyi Cloud to maximize the advantages of cloud-edge collaboration.

Ruyi: Regional exclusive, secure and reliable. For security-sensitive government and enterprise customers with high security and high isolation, we provide end-to-end, customized and exclusive solutions for industry customers by customizing dedicated network equipment and network services such as base stations, frequencies, and campus-level UPF, and fully matching key components such as MEC, cloud, industry capabilities, and industry applications.

China Telecom 5G private network deployment method picture

Image source: China Telecom 5G Customized Network Product Manual

2. China Mobile: Building a "premium, exclusive, and exclusive" 5G private network product system

China Mobile adopts the networking mode of "independent deployment of core network (for ToC and ToB respectively), wireless sharing as the main and dedicated as needed, and shared transmission resources isolated as needed", which is divided into three levels: premium, exclusive and premium. It also launched a number of 5G private network capabilities such as edge computing, super uplink, network services, and 5G private network operation platform, forming three major systems of products, technology and operation.

Premium - Public network: It adopts a virtual private network solution and provides two types of network services, business acceleration and business isolation, through network slicing + QoS guarantee, to meet customers' demands for priority guarantee of network speed, latency and reliability.

Dedicated - dedicated to the public network: A hybrid private network solution is adopted to achieve local traffic offloading and edge data processing based on enhanced coverage and edge computing technology, meeting customers' business needs such as data not leaving the factory and ultra-low latency.

Exclusive - dedicated network: Adopting the physical private network solution, through dedicated construction and exclusive use of base stations, frequencies, etc., it meets the needs of high-security and high-isolation network construction.

China Mobile's 5G private network deployment method

Image source: China Mobile 5G Industry Private Network Technology White Paper

3. China Unicom: "Specially built, maintained, and dedicated" 5G private network

China Unicom's 5G private network is divided into three deployment modes: virtual private network, hybrid private network, and independent private network. It provides a comprehensive private network with 5G as the core technology, integrating slicing, MEC and other technologies, and providing industry users with a high-quality secure network with customized resources, service quality assurance, and business isolation.

Virtual Private Network: Based on 5G public network coverage, it provides customers with a private network with guaranteed latency and bandwidth and data isolation. It is suitable for scenarios with wide-area security requirements and has the characteristics of wide-area networking, priority protection, customer self-service and ready-to-use.

Hybrid private network: A 5G dedicated network with exclusive use of some resources. It deploys user-side network elements downward and is suitable for local open scenarios. It has the characteristics of customization, resource sharing, and data not leaving the park.

Independent private network: Suitable for closed local scenarios, private services of network element equipment, with the characteristics of physical isolation, independent operation, flexible self-management, etc., and can provide network capabilities with super uplink bandwidth.

China Unicom's 5G private network deployment method

Image source: China Unicom 5G Industry Private Network White Paper