What makes 5G standalone (5G SA) so special in terms of serving changing customer needs?
We’ve come a long way in the evolution of mobile technology, from the first 2G devices in the 1990s to the gradual introduction of 5G across the globe since 2019. But contrary to the previous incremental changes from 2G to 3G to 4G, 5G is the first transformational technology change in our industry that demands a comprehensive rethink of business models, systems and processes.
5G brings us incredible technology advancements, including high data rates of up to 20Gbps and low latencies of below 10ms that were non-existent before. It is also designed to connect up to 1 million devices per square kilometre, compared to 10,000 with 4G.
But the real transformation that comes with the introduction of 5G – and the one that requires operators to get into a different mindset – is network slicing. For the first time, this feature enables our industry to address different situational customer needs. We can now offer apps and services that deliver connectivity contextual to the circumstances our customers face, such as addressing the varying connectivity needs of an autonomous car depending on whether it is moving or parked.
Can you give us some examples of 5G SA’s new potential?
There is enormous potential in connected-car and autonomous-driving scenarios. A 5G-enabled connected car already supports multiple functionalities, such as assisted driving, conditions monitoring and in-car entertainment using network slicing.
Another example is real-time video broadcasting. Together with broadcaster RTL, we have tested live video production in Germany using 5G network slicing. Broadcasting was brought to a new level, allowing video upload from mobile devices to the production studio without satellite or fibre optics.
5G SA also brings a truly real-time cloud gaming experience, eliminating the frustrations caused by lag or service interruption both at home and abroad.
Why is 5G SA roaming so important?
All these new use cases made possible by 5G also require a new approach when it comes to roaming. When the owner of a connected car drives abroad, for example, a network enabled for 5G SA roaming is essential to guarantee the same quality of service on foreign networks using the in-car home SIM card.
5G SA roaming also allows broadcasters to produce real-time content across the globe using their home SIM cards. And it helps even the most avid gamers to enjoy the same real-time cloud gaming experience abroad that they are used to at home.
For us operators, a fresh look behind the scenes is required. We need to understand that we are increasingly addressing machines or humans via machines – a shift that necessitates a complete rethink when we develop our service offering. We need to understand that a best-effort approach is not enough any more and consider solutions involving home routing with local breakout and regional breakout solutions.
By deploying a cloud-based production model, we can offer flexible and scalable 5G SA regional breakout roaming services, improving data routing and reducing latency for critical applications. And, most importantly, we need to guarantee that those machines do not get hacked, putting our customers at risk.
Why is security in roaming such a key factor moving forward?
5G SA is the first mobile technology for which roaming is secure by design. In other words, the 3GPP initiative has standardised roaming based on end-to-end encryption, while fostering the concept of accountability. Fraud in roaming scenarios has cost operators a fortune in the past and now is the time to change it.
As 5G SA enables an increasing number of IoT connections worldwide, it is triggering a massive shift from connecting people to connecting things. We are connecting everything to everything, everywhere, and moving to a world in which each ‘everything’ will have different connectivity and security needs. This means that IoT traffic will also become prevalent in roaming scenarios and fraud will move into the IoT space.
Anticipating this development, we have worked hard to come up with a comprehensive set of solutions and are now challenging the current thinking in the industry with Magenta Security Roaming. Launched earlier this year, our new anti-fraud concept is dedicated to future-proofing roaming security.
Can you tell us more about Magenta Security Roaming?
We are taking the need to protect our data, customers and infrastructure from hacker attacks extremely seriously. We are continuously running forward-looking initiatives, including in roaming.
Magenta Security Roaming is an innovative set of solutions that provide secure connectivity across all technology protocols for both internal and external operator customers worldwide, with dedicated support and strict service-level agreements.
This approach to roaming security is unique, as it keeps technology, operations and management under one umbrella. This means that customers don’t need to worry about any of the aspects involved, such as platforms, the set-up of roaming relationships, analytics or reporting. Our roaming security efforts also help our customers avoid financial losses and reputational impact, and protect their end users.
As part of Magenta Security Roaming, we have also launched our Group-hosted SEPP for Family & Friends service suite, a one-stop shop for 5G security specifically designed for operators that have already enabled 5G SA roaming.
Our roaming environment ensures innovative connectivity through 3GPP’s security edge protection proxy (SEPP) in various configurations. These include outsourced SEPP solutions, hosted maintenance services and composite scenarios that can be tailored to each operator’s roaming security needs.
The ’Family’ part of the service is dedicated to our own national operators and provides them with our ‘no-man-in-the-middle’ guarantee, ensuring secure direct communication without interception or other forms of cyberattacks. In addition, roaming security now becomes a commercial rather than a technical decision for our national companies, as they can choose the security level behind each roaming relationship.
The ‘Friends’ part of the service is dedicated to securely connecting our established operator partners with the same guarantees as we provide to our ‘family’ at a favourable price. Security-savvy operators not yet in our Family & Friends programme can work with us to establish the roaming relationships they prefer based on their needs.
When should operators implement 5G SA roaming security?
5G SA roaming and related security measures will eventually be mandatory on each operator’s technology roadmap and the time to start implementing them is now. Its technical enablement, including SEPP deployment and forming roaming relationships, is complex and takes time. Adopting 5G SA roaming now gives operators a head start to better explore and understand the new technology, enabling them to address security and other challenges, refine their offerings and ensure a smoother rollout with a better user experience.
Being an early mover with the technology can also lead to becoming enterprises’ mobile operator of choice. Enterprises with international operations will favour those operators that already offer robust 5G SA roaming capabilities, including effective protection against cyberattacks. This can lead to lucrative business contracts and long-term partnerships, further boosting revenue.
As mentioned before, the range of IoT use cases that also need roaming will increase.
You mentioned the power of 5G’s low-latency capabilities before – can you elaborate?
As 5G SA becomes more widespread, operators need to be able to develop latency-critical applications with minimal investment. One way is to expand their core networks, allowing regional breakout in a different location with minimal effort. This can mitigate the current concerns operators have when rolling out local breakout architecture.
We are working on solving the issues around low-latency regional breakout together with Türk Telekom in a proof-of-concept set up earlier this year. As part of this, we’ve implemented a trial to advance mission-critical IoT applications that also includes testing hosted SEPP connectivity.
The trial is part of Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier’s innovative 5G roaming environment, which allows early movers to trial and scout their roaming needs. We’re inviting interested partners to join us and help our industry to maximise the possibilities that 5G SA will bring in the future.
