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For years, Communication Service Providers (CSPs) have poured billions into building out 5G Standalone (SA) infrastructure with plenty of hype into the speed and capacity it would bring, but without a clear path to profitability. Now that 5G SA is being rolled out across the country, CSPs have an opportunity to monetize their investments by leveraging network slicing enabled by 5G SA’s cloud-native architecture, and made possible by Release 18 of the 3GPP standards.
As 5G SA adoption accelerates, network slicing is scaling rapidly, enabling a wide array of industries from manufacturing and healthcare to live events to leverage ultra-low latency, high throughput, and security for real-world applications.
This article explores how 5G SA slicing transforms connectivity into a premium, monetizable asset by supporting always-on services to help CSPs navigate this transition. We will also examine why end-to-end network observability is the essential foundation for this success, providing the visibility from RAN to Core necessary to verify that every virtual lane meets its strict performance and security requirements.
Manufacturing: Connecting Thousands of IoT Sensors
Modern factories rely on low latency and high reliability, requiring performance levels that legacy wireless solutions cannot sustain, but attributes that 5G SA network slices can deliver. Network slicing guarantees that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for latency, jitter, and uptime are met, providing reliability comparable to that of wired industrial Ethernet systems.
A single 5G SA slice can handle diverse tasks by dedicating slices to specific functions. For instance, a massive machine-type communication (mMTC) slice supports low-power IoT sensors used for maintenance monitoring. In Italy, Ericsson carried out this activity at Comau’s headquarters, an Italian industrial automation company, to test real-time monitoring of industrial assets for improving predictive maintenance planning. This demonstrated the effectiveness of connecting thousands of sensors together on a single slice.
As factories move toward AI-driven operations, this capability becomes particularly critical. High-speed, AI-powered quality control cameras require consistent uplink speeds to detect defects in real-time. A dedicated slice ensures these mission-critical systems never compete for bandwidth with guest Wi-Fi or back-office data.
Healthcare: Accelerating Patient Diagnosis Remotely
As hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities undergo digital transformation, they are adopting advanced technologies. Leveraging an Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) network slice, EMS teams working for a New Jersey regional healthcare system can securely connect with doctors via video to share data en route to the hospital. With the ultra-low latency provided by the slice, specialists provide remote diagnostics and real-time guidance, accelerating the diagnosis and enabling hospital staff to prepare for the right level of care.
In some cases, this form of telehealth can assist in providing care at the scene, reducing unnecessary and costly hospital trips when an emergency room visit isn’t needed – saving both patient time and hospital resources for more critical cases. This example shows how prioritizing 5G slices for emergency services keeps life-saving data isolated from public traffic, thereby improving patient outcomes.
Live Events: Protecting Revenue and the Fan Experience
At major stadiums and other high-profile venues, standard 5G resources are often overwhelmed by fan-generated data. When point-of-sale terminals or ticket screening systems run on the same network as tens of thousands of fans, it often results in longer concession lines, failed transactions, or delays entering – all of which directly affect the fan experience.
Delays in payments were common at the Orange Velodrome in Marseille, France, during large concerts and other sporting events. To address this, Orange, a French CSP, implemented 5G slicing, with early trials demonstrating smooth, uninterrupted sales.
Using an enhanced mobile broadband slice for these two functions, organizers ensure that business-critical functions, such as merchandise and concession sales, never time out, even during peak crowd usage. Moving these processes to a dedicated slice provides a level of reliability that a regular network or unpredictable Wi-Fi cannot match. For the venue, this translates directly to higher visitor satisfaction and significantly increased on-site revenue during the event’s busiest windows.
However, these premium experiences are only possible if the network can actually deliver on its promises.
The Crucial Role of Network Observability
The potential for 5G SA network slicing to drive ROI is immense. Still, success depends on visibility from RAN to Core to verify that each slice meets strict performance and security requirements. Utilizing packet data, specifically through deep packet inspection (DPI), is key to giving network engineers confidence in operational control and reliability.
Packet data, analyzed through deep packet inspection (DPI), provides CSPs with granular visibility into network performance, helping them meet strict SLAs and troubleshoot subscriber issues effectively.
Beyond performance, observability is the primary safeguard for slice security. Since network slicing relies on logical traffic isolation, CSPs must ensure that data from one slice, such as a high-security medical feed, does not leak into another slice or become vulnerable to external interference. By continuously monitoring network traffic at the packet level across each slice, operations teams can quickly detect unusual patterns or unauthorized activity that may signal a breakdown in slice isolation, helping protect sensitive data and maintain the integrity of each customer’s dedicated network environment.
The shift from providing basic connectivity to offering high-value, sliced services demands a new level of operational assurance. By establishing 5G SA network slicing with comprehensive end-to-end network observability, CSPs can go beyond infrastructure deployment and finally achieve the sustainable ROI that these innovations offer.
Rick Fulwiler is the senior director of product management at NETSCOUT. In this role, he works closely with NETSCOUT global customers and strategic partners on AIOps / Analytics, 5G SA, and Virtualization. Rick leverages three decades of technology experience in the Telecom industry in his position.