Network Slicing Is A Must For 5G Roll Out By Telecoms

GautamBilla, Director Engineering at Ciena India discusses what Indian telecom operators need to know about network slicing to take full advantage of newly enabled 5G use cases

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Mobile broadband is pivotal for Indian telecom sector growth in the next 3-5 years. India is still only 26% internet penetration (global average is 44%). It is estimated that India will have in excess of 600 million mobile internet users by 2020. Network coverage and handset affordability are two key gating factors in this journey. While 5G as a technology is expected to revolutionize the telecommunication domain and beyond yet again, it will be techniques such as Network slicing / resource virtualization and densification that will play a fundamental role in building these next generation networks in India.

One of 5G’s biggest and most heralded promises is that there will be greater bandwidth for all – as much as 10Gbps peak rate per user, which is truly enormous. 5G also promises as much as 99.999 percent network availability, theoretical 100% coverage, and a dramatic decrease in power requirements, up to as much as 90 percent reduction compared to today’s technologies. Users may claim to need all the bandwidth they can get, but that doesn’t necessarily correlate with their actual requirements.

That being said, there is also something that is fundamentally unique about 5G that was never seen in any of the earlier generations. The core thought process of 5G is built around “services” and not around technology. Below are three main services classifications under 5G:

Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)

 - High speed browsing and downloads

 - 4k / 8k video streaming

Ultra-reliable & Low Latency Communications (UR-LLC)

- Self-Driving Cars

- Manufacturing Process Automation

Machine to Machine Communications (mMTC)

- Smart Cities

- Automated Homes