In what it called a "commercial pilot," Vodafone UK has launched availability of 5G standalone (SA) services in London, Manchester and Cardiff. The deployment leverages a cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core (5GC) supplied by Ericsson, although Light Reading understands there are currently few if any 5G SA devices in the UK market yet ready to take advantage of the new capabilities.

A Vodafone spokesperson told Light Reading that the latest 5G SA rollouts were part two of a three-step process to get 5G SA up and running at scale.

Step one was Coventry, some 12 months ago. In collaboration with the city's university, and with the help of Ericsson kit, Vodafone started showcasing 5G SA tech in a campus environment. The operator flagged at the time that it had also installed Ericsson's 5G Radio Dot system at the university.

Step two, building on work done at Coventry University, is aimed at allowing partners to test devices (when they become available) on the "ultra-low latency" infrastructure, as well as putting new services and capabilities through their paces, including network slicing.

Often seen as one of the more promising 5G use cases in terms of generating new revenue streams for operators, Vodafone has already configured a dedicated network slice for Coventry University. It's designed to provide low-latency services and enable virtual reality distance learning.

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Compared with the non-standalone (NSA) variant of 5G, the SA version is typically billed by industry as the real 5G deal. Andrea Dona, chief network officer at Vodafone UK, stuck to that line. In prepared remarks, he called 5G SA a "game-changer" and a complement to Vodafone investments in multi-access edge compute, the Internet of Things, mobile private networks and open RAN tech.

"When we bring all these technologies together, we open up entirely new possibilities for customers, and move beyond being a core connectivity provider to being a true digital champion," enthused Dona.

Three steps to 5G SA heaven

The third and final 5G SA phase for Vodafone UK is running the new-fangled tech at scale.

Last week, Ericsson announced that it had bagged 5GC contracts with Vodafone's operations in both the UK and Germany, but pointedly noted that the deployment phase in the UK will span five years.

Vodafone Germany beat its UK counterpart to the 5G SA punch, however. In April, working in partnership with Ericsson, OPPO and Qualcomm, the operator activated 5G SA on all its basestations operating in the 3.5GHz band – about 1,000 antennas scattered across 300 locations – after switching on the Swedish supplier's 5G SA core in its Frankfurt am Main data center.

In parallel with its "commercial pilot" announcement in the UK, Vodafone flagged deployment of a 5G SA "pre-commercial" core network – again, supplied by Ericsson – which is apparently accessible via some Samsung smartphone models.

— Ken Wieland, contributing editor, special to Light Reading