5G has not been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and commercial deployment is accelerating

Mobile service providers are moving towards 5G networks to bring high-speed mobile connectivity to new applications and smart infrastructure such as smart buildings, smart communities, smart homes, smart cities, and more.

What’s more, the coronavirus hasn’t hindered that growth, according to new research from A10 Networks.

Current progress includes stabilization work to virtualize core network functions and a re-examination of the security investments they need to protect their networks and customers.

This is according to a report titled “Towards a More Secure 5G World” published jointly by the Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network and A10 Networks.

The research found that the percentage of mobile service providers that are “moving rapidly towards commercial deployment” has increased significantly over the past year, rising from 26% in a survey announced in early 2019 to 45% in the new survey.

Almost all respondents said improved security is a key network requirement and top concern in the 5G era.

A10 Networks noted that early 5G networks are being designed to comply with the already-ratified non-standalone 5G standards.

However, 30% of respondents said they were already actively planning to add standalone 5G, and another 9% said their businesses would move directly to standalone 5G.

Standalone 5G will require an entirely new network core that leverages a cloud-native, virtualized, service-based architecture. In fact, many respondents said they are making significant progress in network virtualization.

Dave Murray, BPI’s director of network thought leadership, said: “Our latest research shows that the world’s major mobile operators are making progress with their 5G plans, with more expecting to begin commercial expansion in the coming months.

“While COVID-19 may cause some short-term delays for operators, the pandemic ultimately demonstrates the global demand for higher-speed, higher-capacity 5G networks and the applications and use cases they support.”

The study also found that 81% believe industry progress toward 5G is proceeding rapidly, primarily in major markets, or at least in line with expectations.

Additionally, 71% expect to begin building 5G networks within 18 months, with a third having already started or will start in 2020.

Almost all (95%) said virtualized network functions were critical to their 5G plans, and about three-quarters of respondents said their organizations were well advanced or making good progress with virtualization.

Finally, 99% see the deployment of mobile edge cloud as an important aspect of 5G networks, with 65% saying they expect to have edge cloud deployed on their 5G networks within 18 months.

“Mobile operators around the world need to proactively respond to the demands of the new virtualized and secure 5G world,” said Gunter Reiss, Global Vice President, A10 Networks.

“This means improving security at key protection points such as the mobile edge, deploying cloud-native infrastructure, consolidating network functions, leveraging new CI/CD integration and DevOps automation tools, and migrating to agile and hyperscale service-based architectures as much as possible.

“All of these improvements will immediately pay dividends to existing networks and bring operators closer to their ultimate goal of enabling broader adoption of 5G and launching new innovative ultra-reliable, low-latency use cases.”