Der kommerzielle Prozess der 5G-Netzwerkschneiden aus der Netzwerkschneiden-Demonstration von Google betrachtet
Recently, Google Fiber has partnered with Nokia to promote a network slicing demonstration for home broadband. The demonstration ran between two game consoles, effectively reducing game latency from 90 milliseconds to 10 milliseconds. Network slicing is a core technology of 5G. Google and Nokia successfully transplanted this technology to the fiber - optic network by adding an agent program to their routers and pairing it with Nokia's optical line terminal that supports slicing, which to some extent proves that network slicing can effectively support more scenario experiences. Currently, 5G has been commercially available for many years, but the progress of network slicing seems not to meet expectations. More market players need to vigorously promote it in different scenarios to enable this innovative 5G technology to truly bring commercial value.
Multiple types of entities are concerned about network slicing applications, and diversified business models for slicing are emerging
Google's demonstration of network slicing in home broadband provides game users with an ultra - low - latency experience. Meanwhile, Google Fiber executives also stated that the team is researching network security applications. For example, when a user logs in to a bank, a "transaction slice" is automatically triggered, allowing key financial users to obtain a more secure transaction channel. The company is also researching and promoting slice support for AR and VR live broadcasts. In addition, Comcast, another cable TV provider in the United States, has also launched a network slicing experiment. It has deployed low - latency technology in its network and plans to further extend it to fiber - to - the - premises (FTTP) networks, which can reduce work latency by 75%. Initially, it supports FaceTime on all Apple devices, Meta's mixed - reality headset applications, NVIDIA GeForce Now cloud gaming, and multiple games on the Steam platform.
Fixed - line broadband providers have strengthened the testing and demonstration of network slicing, promoting network slicing to step out of the wireless field and expanding the possibilities of more scenarios. Leading enterprises in various industries have always regarded network slicing as an important tool to enhance the digital capabilities of the industry. By deploying and commercializing network slicing earlier, some new business models have begun to be implemented. A typical example is that in April this year, industrial giant Siemens announced a partnership with German operator O₂ Telefónica to develop a solution based on 5G network slicing. In this cooperation, Siemens, as the leader in customer relations, sells O₂ Telefónica's public 5G network slices to water and sewage treatment companies in Germany as part of a new managed industrial automation solution.
As early as the initial stage of 5G commercialization, 5G network slicing was highly anticipated as a new growth point for operators, and there was a fierce discussion about its business model. Theoretically, there are several business models for 5G network slicing, including B2B, B2C, B2B2B, and B2B2C, and the industry has been continuously exploring them in recent years.
Among them, the B2B model is that operators directly deploy 5G slices for industry customers. Currently, most virtual private networks may be deployed in this model. The B2B2B model requires a powerful player with a wide range of industry customer bases and professional knowledge of communication products. This player can resell operators' 5G slices and incorporate 5G slices into the overall digital solution. The cooperation between Siemens and O₂ Telefónica to provide network slicing services can be regarded as a typical case and practice of operators implementing the B2B2B business model for network slicing. The 5G slices come from the operator O₂ Telefónica, and the end - customers are from Siemens. Siemens can be said to be undertaking the role of reselling 5G slice products. Siemens also said that it will promote this 5G slice solution to thousands of water industry enterprises in the future.
Google Fiber's demonstration of using network slicing may give rise to a B2C business model in the broadband field in the future. On the one hand, Google Fiber can use network slices to improve its own broadband service capabilities. On the other hand, as a broadband operator, Google Fiber can sell slice capabilities to users in need, such as game and financial users as mentioned above.
However, on the smartphone user side, due to the lack of support from chips, operating systems, etc. in smartphone terminals, it is difficult for individual users to subscribe to and implement network slicing on their mobile phones. Therefore, the B2C and B2B2C models have not yet formed a scale. However, if network slicing can be effectively implemented on smartphones and form a large consumer group, the commercial value of slicing can be rapidly magnified.
Technical barriers of network slicing in the consumer field are constantly being broken, but the implementation is still slow
To achieve a breakthrough in the consumer field, network slicing must break some barriers in smartphones by adding corresponding slice - capable components inside the smartphone. This can be achieved either in the modem by matching business attributes with network slices or on the operating system side. Previously, mainstream operating systems such as Android and iOS have provided support functions for network slicing, and mainstream chip manufacturers have also realized the support of slice functions in the modem.
The breakthroughs in operating systems and modems have made it possible for smartphones to support 5G network slicing. Smartphone applications based on network slicing can bring a wealth of application scenarios and provide a platform for market players to innovate. From a business model perspective, there is not only the B2C model where individual consumers directly order slices from operators for certain apps on their mobile phones, but also the B2B2C model where some enterprises wholesale slices of specified apps from operators and provide them to their own users. Regardless of the model, running 5G network slicing on smartphones brings new opportunities to various market players and expands the large consumer market for 5G.
1. For users, they can directly experience the changes brought by 5G native technology
Although 5G has shown obvious effects in industry applications, as a network for the public, the experience of individual consumers on the C - side is crucial. Currently, although the 5G network has carried a growing amount of traffic and provided mobile phone users with a much higher speed than 4G, many users seem not satisfied. Many people think that 5G has not brought obvious changes to them. If 5G mobile phones support the slice function, public users can order slices to enjoy network services with exclusive bandwidth, security, and latency. For example, in crowded stadiums or concerts, while others' mobile phone speeds are very slow due to capacity overload, users who have ordered slices can still conduct live broadcasts smoothly; cloud - game users can enjoy a significantly smoother experience by ordering 5G network slices; when doing flash sales or ticket - grabbing, users can be faster than others with the latency guarantee of network slices. These scenarios are brought by the 5G native technology of network slicing, and users can truly feel a revolutionary upgrade compared with 4G, so their perception of 5G will be very obvious.
2. For Internet product providers, network slicing drives more business and scenario innovation
Previously, the commercialization of the 4G network gave birth to a large number of innovations in mobile Internet app applications, changing the way people live. Currently, 5G has been commercially available for 4 years, but mobile Internet applications still seem to continue the business form of the 4G era and have not shown 5G native application scenarios. In the future, if 5G network slicing can provide exclusive and high - quality network services to the public, mobile Internet application enterprises can carry out more innovations based on this. At present, individual users can directly purchase network slices to ensure the reliability of services such as cloud gaming, online video, and live broadcasts. Enterprises in these fields can fully leverage the advantages of network slicing to develop businesses and scenarios with better experience, more forms, and richer content. In addition, the application of technologies such as 3D and digital twin for individual users can also form a new mobile Internet business form in the 5G era with the support of exclusive and reliable networks.
3. For service industries targeting individual users, network slicing is a new means for enterprises to improve customer service
For many years, industries with a large number of individual customers, such as finance, aviation, and retail, have attached great importance to improving the level of customer service, especially for high - end customers. They provide value - added services through various means, such as airport lounges and point - exchange gifts. Currently, many service - industry enterprises have formed a mature customer - service model through the mobile Internet. With the commercialization of 5G network slicing, especially in the B2B2C model, these service - industry enterprises can order slices and provide them to their high - end customers, allowing customers to have dedicated communication services and further upgrading their service experience based on the mobile Internet. For example, securities companies can provide network slices for high - end customers to ensure exclusive, secure, and high - speed trading channels and customer - service hotlines. Some app manufacturers can also provide service solutions based on network slicing for high - level users.
4. For operators, they can design high - level products to increase revenue
With the commercialization of 5G, the number of 5G smartphone users will increase significantly. In the future, hundreds of millions of users will be potential users of network slicing. Network slicing provides exclusive communication services, which of course require higher fees than public channels. In the 4G era, operators' To C business was based on homogeneous traffic, and they could only charge based on the scale of traffic, with homogeneous service quality. In the 5G era, the To C network slicing is a hierarchical service system, forming a hierarchical service quality, and of course, the charging is also hierarchical. When the number of users paying higher - level fees increases, the ARPU value of operators will also increase.
Overall, the ability of 5G network slicing to run on smartphones can provide a potential upgrade direction for various economic forms based on smartphones and is of great significance in exploring the large consumer market of the mobile Internet.
However, achieving network slicing on smartphones is not an overnight success, and there are still many technical and ecological barriers. The complexity of smartphones lies in the diverse user applications, including gaming, high - definition video, live broadcasts, social networking, etc. The terminal needs to identify various user applications and report the application identifiers to the network side to form different slice guarantees. Moreover, each application has different requirements for speed, latency, reliability, etc., so the complexity increases significantly, and the requirements for chips and operating systems are also higher. For 5G smartphones to support network slicing, it is necessary to connect the operating system, baseband chip, and application program, so that the terminal - side slices can match the network - side slices. Therefore, comprehensive collaboration among all parties in the ecosystem is required.
In a survey of 105 global operators conducted by Heavy Reading in 2024, 33% of the respondents said they were conducting network slicing experiments to gain relevant experience, and only 7% said they had started deploying the first use cases. Deploying end - to - end network slicing requires configuring all network resources in the mobile network, which is a complex and resource - intensive task. Currently, slicing in the B2B field has begun to take shape. It is expected that all parties in the ecosystem will accelerate the formation of a consensus on the value of network slicing and jointly promote the rapid implementation of this technology, especially the large - scale adoption in the consumer field.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Internet of Things Think Tank” (ID: iot101), author: Zhao Xiaofei, published by 36Kr with authorization.