Recently, at the 2021 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day conference, Liu Liehong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Chairman of the China Communications Society, announced that to promote the large-scale application of 5G Standalone (SA) networking mode, starting from May 17, new 5G terminals will have the 5G Standalone (SA) function enabled by default.
What is the 5G Standalone networking function? What does enabling this function mean for users? Journalists interviewed industry experts.
Currently, 5G Standalone networking has commercial capabilities.
In daily life, mobile communication networks mainly consist of two parts: base stations and core networks. Industry experts explain that 5G has designed two networking modes in terms of technical standards: Non-Standalone (NSA) and Standalone (SA). The NSA mode is “5G base station + 4G core network,” where users’ 5G phones connect to 5G base stations and then link to the 4G core network for information forwarding, transmission, and processing. The SA mode, on the other hand, is “5G base station + 5G core network,” which represents a more complete and independent 5G network.
Wei Ran, Director of the Terminal Laboratory at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, states that NSA is a networking method used in the early stages of 5G operations, leveraging the existing 4G network to lower deployment costs, but is essentially a transitional solution.
“To put it metaphorically, NSA is like using a 4G brain to control a 5G body, while SA uses a 5G brain to directly drive the 5G body. The reason why 5G SA networks are more advanced than 4G networks is not only because they have a robust body that can provide higher air interface data transmission rates through base stations with large bandwidth, but also because they have a powerful brain that can offer users a higher quality and guaranteed end-to-end service experience,” said Wei Ran.
Currently, looking at domestic 5G network deployment, the speed of SA construction is rapid, and large-scale 5G SA network deployment has already taken shape, completely possessing the commercial capabilities for 5G Standalone networking.
Liu Liehong stated that as of the end of March 2021, China had built 819,000 5G base stations, accounting for over 70% of the global total, establishing the world’s largest 5G SA network, which has covered all prefecture-level cities. In 2021, there are plans to build an additional 600,000 5G base stations to accelerate the large-scale development of the SA mode.
Telecom operators are also well-prepared. Jian Qin, Vice General Manager of China Mobile, introduced that the scale of China Mobile’s 5G SA base stations has reached 344,000, achieving commercial 5G coverage in all prefecture-level cities and some key county towns.
Enabling the SA function allows consumers to truly enjoy 5G services.
In recent years, 5G phones have rapidly proliferated in China. According to statistics from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, in April 2021, the domestic market’s 5G phone shipment volume reached 21.42 million units, accounting for 77.9% of the total phone shipments during the same period. As of the end of April 2021, over 40 companies in the domestic market have launched more than 340 models of 5G phones, with a cumulative shipment volume reaching 270 million units.
So, for users of these 5G phones, what are the differences between using the SA function and the NSA function?
“In the 5G SA mode, it can achieve higher uplink data transmission rates, meeting the needs of high uplink rate services such as HD video surveillance and live sports broadcasting. Under the same power consumption conditions, the uplink rate of SA can reach 2 times or even higher than that of NSA,” said Wei Ran.
Moreover, under the network architecture of 5G SA, its service servers are closer to end users, resulting in lower network latency and smoother HD video playback, with better experiences for VR/AR services. Compared to the SA mode, the business continuity, data transmission stability, and user experience continuity of the NSA mode are inferior to those of the SA mode.
In fact, 5G SA phones have already started to become mainstream.Since January 2020, all newly launched 5G phones support the SA mode.Currently, the proportion of dual-mode phones supporting NSA/SA has reached 99.9%, and all terminals have the hardware conditions to prioritize support for SA.
Previously, users had to manually modify their phone system settings to use the SA function, which affected the user experience. Starting from May 17, new 5G terminals will have the 5G SA function enabled by default. This provides better conditions for mobile users to enjoy the 5G network.
“As the commercial deployment of 5G SA networks has gradually become a trend, it is recommended that older 5G users also manually enable the SA mode to better enjoy the ultimate service experience brought by 5G networks,” Wei Ran said. Major phone manufacturers will soon announce methods for enabling the SA mode for older users on their official websites.
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Source: Xinhua News Agency, World 5G Conference
Editor: Wang Yu
Reviewer: Wang Xiaolong
Final Review: He Yi
