Huawei became the first vendor to pass China’s 5G non-standalone (NSA) Core Network test. The test, which covers key Core Network technologies and service processes, is in the third phase of the 5G R&D trial. The trial was organized by the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group and conducted at the Beijing lab of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). The test constitutes an important part of China's 5G R&D trials for operators that hope to deploy 5G commercial networks early and quickly.
The test is based on the commercial 5G Core Network solution released by Huawei at the Mobile World Congress 2018. The technologies tested include: gateway selection in control and user plane separation (CUPS) architecture, 5G ultra-high bandwidth, dual-connection to LTE and new radio (NR), independent billing for 5G NR, and terminal access management. The key service processes include: terminal registration, service requests, mobility management, and session management.
The 5G network test was performed by the network technology workgroup of the CAICT and three of China’s leading operators, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. In the first and second phases of the 5G R&D trial, Huawei's 5G core network also achieved outstanding results in verification of key technologies and prototypes such as Service-Based Architecture (SBA), Network Slicing, and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC).
Many leading operators hope to use 5G NSA to provide new eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband) services, such as AR/VR applications. Huawei's 5G core network can provide ultra-high bandwidth for individual users, ensuring optimal AR/VR service experience. The Huawei 5G core network is based on CUPS architecture, and the user plane can be flexibly deployed at the network edge to ensure ultra-low latency practically anytime and anywhere. Additionally, the Huawei 5G core network is a convergent network that supports 2G/3G/4G/5G, thereby laying the foundation for smooth network evolution and ensuring optimal user experience.
Huawei has worked with industry partners to foster the development of 5G standards, technologies, and industries. At the Mobile World Congress in 2018, the Huawei 5G Core solution received the "Best Network Software Breakthrough" award. Huawei and Vodafone have jointly completed the world's first call using the NSA 3GPP 5G NR standard. At year-end 2017, Huawei had built 15 pre-commercial 5G core sites around the globe. In the future, Huawei will continue to invest in 5G R&D and promote formulation of 5G standards. Huawei also plans to strengthen its cooperation with industry partners to prepare for the upcoming 5G era.
