Singtel and Ericsson

Transforming Singapore's future with 5G

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Singtel - the first and most powerful 5G standalone network in Singapore

Singtel’s 5G Standalone (SA) network offers blazing fast speeds, hyperconnectivity, and a myriad of possibilities for both enterprise and consumers. Learn about Singtel’s journey to get there.

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#5GCore #5Gmonetization #5Gstandalone #NetworkPerformance

Watch this video interview with Mark Chong, Group CTO of Singtel. and Jan Karlsson, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Digital Services, Ericsson, sharing insights how communication service providers can help enterprises transform and gain access to new revenue streams.

In May 2021, Singtel – in partnership with Ericsson - became the first operator to launch 5G standalone in Singapore.

Singtel’s ambition is to differentiate its 5G offerings beyond connectivity to innovate consumer services and enterprise solutions.

The implementation of Ericsson’s 5G New Radio (NR) SA and cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core, along with transport, Operations Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS) has brought a wealth of new opportunities and use cases that were previously unachievable with existing 5G non-standalone (NSA) networks.

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“5G SA provides new capabilities, driving new use cases and providing new opportunities. Singtel is committed to continually innovate and maximize the potential of what this developing technology can deliver. Our 5G SA network, powered by Ericsson, will help pave the way for many new applications as we look to drive transformative benefits for consumers and businesses.“

Mark Chong, Group CTO, Singtel

Singtel’s aspirations for 5G SA:

Build a more powerful and programmable network for use cases only possible with 5G standalone.
Support industry digitalization offering higher reliability for critical applications.
Enable developers to innovate by validating new use cases in real-life scenarios
Capture new business opportunities early that leverages the unique capabilities of 5G SA
Secure return on investment in networks by monetizing 5G

Being one of the first telcos in the world to deploy 5G SA was challenging. Singtel needed a comprehensive 5G plan to implement the SA architecture that transformed all network domains including radio, transport and core, along with Operations Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS).

Ericsson solutions deployed in Singtel’s 5G SA include:

Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core:
Container-based, cloud-native EPC and 5GC platform including packet core, unified and data management, policy, signaling controller and exposure network functions.

Ericsson NFVI:
Cloud infrastructure including Ericsson Cloud Container Distribution (CCD) based on Kubernetes opensource container orchestration system.

Ericsson Cloud IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS):
Supporting voice services, initially with EPS fallback and later voiceover NR (VoNR).

Ericsson 5G RAN:
Antennas, radios, baseband (RAN Compute), and RAN software to enable incredible speeds and mobility.

Ericsson Spectrum Sharing:
Software solution for quick introduction of 5G over a wide area, leveraging 4G spectrum and existing Ericsson Radio System Infrastructure.

Ericsson's mmWave:
To enhance the 5G experience and performance, Singtel will also deploy Ericsson 5G in the mmWave band (28GHz) in the near future.

Ericsson Router 6000:
IP transport portfolio, delivering high-performance connectivity for LTE, LTE-advanced and 5G applications.

Ericsson Dynamic Orchestration:
Including Ericsson Network Manager (ENM), AI/ML driven Network Intelligence (ENI), and Ericsson Orchestration – cloud-manager and service orchestration.

Ericsson Digital BSS/5G charging:
To capture 5G network data and monetize 5G services.

Watch this video interview with Tay Yeow Lian, MD Networks, Singtel, and Monica Zethzon, Vice President and Head of Solution Area Packet Core at‎ Ericsson, on their joint experiences of launching 5G Standalone in Singapore.

“5G SA allows consumers in Singapore to experience the full benefits of 5G connectivity and also enables businesses across industries to reap the benefits of enhanced mobility, flexibility, reliability and security. As Singtel’s long-standing partner, we are proud to support one of the first 5G SA networks in the world.”

Martin Wiktorin, Head of Global Customer Unit Singtel at Ericsson

With 5G SA, Singtel and Ericsson have delivered up to 10 times greater data speeds than LTE, halved latency, and enhanced network capacity. This supercharged connectivity has seen Singtel internationally and nationally recognized for a number of awards. Ericsson and Singtel jointly won 2021’s Asia Communication Award in the 5G deployment category for delivering Singapore’s first and fastest 5G SA network. In 2022 Singtel and Ericsson were awarded ‘The Beyond Connectivity Award’ by World Communication Awards (WCA) for 5G enterprise deployments in Singapore and the Global Telecom Awards (GLOTEL) 2022 for “Advancing Standalone 5G”.

Singtel is inspiring consumers, enterprises and government by collaborating and developing 5G use cases with startups, enterprises in areas such as robotics, VR, AI, drones, and maritime, as well as with GovTech Singapore.

Ericsson and Singtel are supporting the next generation of jobs and talent for the 5G era working with a collection of global industry partners to develop advanced 5G enterprise solutions in Singapore, to then be scaled for global deployment.

"To achieve our goals we followed the three P’s. The first ”P” is people. I'm very heartened to see the great partnership between the Singtel engineers and the Ericsson engineers. The second is processes. We engaged the local engineers, and the PDU back in Stockholm, enabling us to fix all the issues without glitches to prepare for the launch. Lastly, the platform - Singtel is very happy to have selected Ericsson as our 5G platform, and now we're reaping the benefits of getting ready for 5G and we hope to grow the 5G business."

Tay Yeow Lian, MD Networks, Singtel