By Catherine Sbeglia Nin
Rogers Communications said that has become the first operator in Canada to launch a national, commercial 5G Standalone (SA) network in the country and one of the first in the world.
A 5G Standalone core will support advanced use cases and an open network architecture. Most 5G networks in operation today use a Non-Standalone (NSA) architecture, which links an LTE core to new radios supporting 5G frequency bands. The next step is to replace that evolved packet core (EPC) with a new cloud-native 5G core.
Underpinning the Rogers SA network is the Ericsson cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core, which combines EPC and 5GC network functions into a common cloud native platform and enables advanced wireless capabilities like ultra-low latency, network slicing and mobile edge computing. The 5G core will also help Rogers expand its 5G footprint.
“Today’s launch delivers exciting new opportunities and capabilities to industries, businesses and consumers across Canada,” said chief technology officer, Ericsson Canada, Yasir Hussain. “Ericsson is collaborating with our partners at Rogers to deliver 5G advanced services and innovative network solutions to meet the growing demand from Canadian companies and consumers.”
Rogers began its 5G rollout in January 2020 in downtown Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Then, the operator announced the deployment of its SA 5G core in December 2020, followed by its first 5G SA device certification in Canada in October 2021.
“We are thrilled to be the first in Canada to launch a commercial 5G standalone service,” said chief technology officer at Rogers Communications, Jorge Fernandes. “This milestone underscores our ongoing leadership in 5G and will bring immediate benefits to customers by increasing coverage, scalability and availability, and improving network response times, enabling a world of new use cases and applications.”
